


A Dangerous Game

by FictionalNutter



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Shipwrecked, Anal Fingering, Anal Sex, Angels, Angry Dean Winchester, Awesome Bobby, Bets & Wagers, Big Brother Gabriel, Caring Gabriel, Claiming, Confident Castiel, Confused Castiel, Confused Dean, Confused Sam, Cooking, Dating, Dean Has Trust Issues, Embarrassed Sam, Flirting, Gabriel Being Gabriel, Handprint, Handprint Kink, Having Faith, Innuendo, John Winchester Being an Asshole, John is Missing, Light Bondage, Light Dom/sub, M/M, Panicking Dean, Pool, Pool & Billiards, Post-Episode: s01e01 Pilot, Protective Bobby Singer, Research, Rimming, Sam Winchester Ships Castiel/Dean Winchester, Snarky Gabriel, Swimming Pools, Trapped, Trust Issues, Uncomfortable Dean Winchester, Worried Bobby, Worried Dean Winchester
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-24
Updated: 2016-07-25
Packaged: 2018-04-05 22:30:38
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 26
Words: 60,245
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4197420
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FictionalNutter/pseuds/FictionalNutter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After a hunt that didn't end particularly well, Sam and Dean find themselves washed up on the shore of a seemingly abandoned island. However, they soon discover that the island is home to two eccentric recluses, who don't seem to have any intentions of letting the Winchesters leave.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> My lovely friend [Susan](http://obsession-is-my-life.tumblr.com/) got to hear me bouncing around the genesis of this idea more than a year ago, and helped me nail down some of the details that turned it into what I'm posting now. Please check out her Tumblr and give her some love, as she's a wonderful person and my favorite sounding board for fic ideas!
> 
> This is a canon-adjacent AU. Set several years after Dean gets Sam at Stanford, but their dad is still missing and they've been hunting together for a long time now, trying to figure out where he is. All the boy-king Sam stuff isn't included.

Sam heaved himself up onto shore with a gasp, rolling over and panting with short harsh breaths as he glared at the still stormy sky. He could hear Dean beside him, just as out of breath and sick of sea water.

A few moments passed as they collected their breath before Dean stated, tone dripping with irritation, "So, shipwrecked. That's a new one."

Sam groaned and shifted so he could actually see his brother. Shockingly, they were both fine. It had been a hell of a storm, but the sky was clearing, and they'd managed to make shore. He was reasonably positive that there hadn't been an island here before their life raft had capsized, but he wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth. "That's the last time I take a hunt on a freaking boat," Sam muttered back, too exhausted to offer much of an expression to go along with the statement.

Dean huffed what might have been a laugh. "You found the hunt," he pointed out.

Sam didn't reply, because it was true. The ghost of a jilted lover was haunting a yacht, but their plan to burn the antique framed love letters before anyone found them went awry when a party boarded the boat and immediately set off. Sam and Dean had been forced to hide in whatever spaces they could find as people traipsed around the boat. Ultimately, their hand was forced when the spirit started to attack. Dean had jumped out and snatched the letters off the wall, setting them on fire almost before anyone realized he was there. Sam fought off the ghost while Dean worked, and it paid off. The ghost disappeared, and nobody died.

Of course, then there'd been the small problem of the terrified yacht guests who believed Sam and Dean were trying to kill them, no matter what they said to the contrary. That drama had led to the hunters being forced onto the life raft and cast off the ship. It hadn't taken long before a storm had hit, and the brothers had been capsized. They'd linked arms and did their best to stay afloat until the waves calmed down, then started swimming for the island that had suddenly appeared in the distance. Of course, they probably just hadn't noticed it before in all the chaos, but it was still a little odd.

"What the hell do we do now?" Sam asked after a few moments of silence. They were stranded, and the odds of the island being inhabited were slim.

Dean heaved himself upwards, scanning the edge of the jungle for anything helpful. "I got no ideas," he shrugged. "I've never been shipwrecked before."

"I saw the first couple seasons of LOST," Sam offered. Not that that would be much help. If there'd been any significant tips for survival on an island in future seasons, he'd missed them. Once Dean had shown up at his school, his television watching schedule had gotten a little spotty.

Dean snorted, getting to his feet and shifting to help Sam up. "Right, well, let's at least look for water. Gotta get our strength up, right? Ocean's not exactly healthy."

"Agreed," Sam groaned, wincing as his muscles screamed at him when he stood.

The brothers headed to the edge of the jungle, scanning for any obvious routes they could take.

Surprised, Sam kicked aside some leaves to see a well worn path, clearly indicating travel. "Hey, Dean, check this out."

"Huh," Dean mused, joining Sam and looking down in curiosity. In an ominous tone he added, "Maybe we're not alone on this hunk of land after all."

"Geez, Dean, way to make it sound creepy as hell," Sam complained, stepping into the jungle and onto the path. "Let's be optimistic, okay?" 

Dean shrugged and followed Sam onto the path, keeping quiet for a moment before asking, "What do you think Dad's going to do when he finds out about the shipwreck?"

Sam turned to give Dean a quizzical look. Their father had been missing for years now. The only reason they even knew he was alive was because of the coordinates for nearby hunts that arrived via text once a month or so. "How the hell would he even find out?"

Dean gave him a look like he was missing something obvious. "He's gotta be keeping tabs on us somehow. He never sends coordinates for a job more than six hours away, right? He knows where we are. So, he knows we were on the yacht thing. We go missing, he'll start shaking trees until coconuts fall."

"I'm not holding my breath," Sam muttered. After Jessica's death and their father's complete and utter failure to appear whenever he was needed, Sam had lost a lot of faith in the man. Dean, however, he had complete faith in, and that had saved both their lives many times. The pain of Jessica's murder and the burning desire to track down the demon had faded with time, and Sam was starting to realize what there was to enjoy about hunting that he had never seen before. It also helped that Dean had convinced him to take online classes in their limited spare time. He got to save people, spend time with the one member of his family he knew he could count on, and he wasn't giving up on a future. Altogether, it helped Sam stay sane. He still hoped to find John someday, but that had stopped being a priority a long time ago. When a man abandons his kids for several years without even a phone call, that doesn't really instill confidence.

Dean scowled at the back of Sam's head, but didn't comment. He still believed in their father, though a lot of the blind faith he'd had as a kid had tapered off with distance and hindsight. Working with Sam was a partnership, not a dictatorship, and he and his brother made a damn good team. Dean had been able to hold Sam together during his rage revenge phase after his girlfriend's death, and helped redirect his brother. That was part of the reason he'd suggested the online college stuff a couple years ago too. Sam needed to feel productive and like he was working towards something. Saving people was good, but knowing he could do something else if he needed or wanted to did wonders for Sam's emotional state. If there was one subject Dean was a master of, it was Sam 101. He didn't want to lose his brother again, but he'd be damned if he dragged the kid around against his will. They worked together, and they were a good team. Dean was proud of that.

"Dude," Sam cut into Dean's train of thought. "Do you see what I see?"

Massive turrets and a gigantic swooping roof stuck out above the tree tops in the distance, clear indications of a building ahead.

"What is that, a freaking mansion?" Dean wondered aloud, gazing in bewilderment at the clear signs of habitation on the island.

Sam shrugged. "No idea, but it might mean people, which might mean a way off the island. That building looks huge - no way a house that big is built with no kind of contact to the outside world."

"No kidding." Dean started moving again, eager to get a better look. "Let's find out what's up with this weird ass island!"

Sam let Dean take the lead this time as they kept moving, this time towards the mansion. Sam was feeling a little overwhelmed and exhausted by the ordeal, but a since of enlivening curiosity kept him moving, and he couldn't help but feel a little excitement at the prospect of a brand new adventure. The hunts they took on were often variations on the same general problem, so something brand new was an oddity worth exploring.

"Holy freaking crap," Dean blurted, rounding a corner of the path and coming to a halt.

Sam joined him and also stopped in his tracks, astonished by the sheer size of the building before them. "What the hell?" He muttered.

The mansion had to be the size of the White House, if not larger. It was elegantly constructed and breathtakingly beautiful. The style was reminiscent of multiple time periods of architecture, though nothing more recent than seventy or eighty years ago, Sam thought. It looked brand new, but also established, like it had been there for years without growing old. It was the most bizarre building Sam thought he'd ever seen.

"Should we go knock?" Dean whispered, gesturing to the front door.

Sam glanced at his brother in amusement. "Dude, why are you whispering?"

"Huh?" Dean whispered, then realized and shook his head. "I don't know," he said at a normal volume. "This is weird, right?"

"Totally weird," Sam confirmed. "C'mon."

The brothers moved towards the house, feeling oddly naked without any weapons. There was no reason to suspect anything awry on the island, but everything so far had been a little weird. Still, they didn't have any other options at this point.

"There's a doorbell," Dean stated blankly, glancing from the ornate button to Sam, then back again. "The freaking enormous mansion has a  _doorbell_." _  
_

"So press it," Sam said, rolling his eyes. "We won't have any answers unless we see if someone's home." With the state of the building, Sam didn't doubt somebody lived in it. The question was what kind of person lived on a deserted island in a supremely unreasonably sized house.

Dean seemed to steel himself for a moment, then he quickly pressed the button, causing a loud foghorn to blast out throughout the entire mansion and outwards, startling the brothers badly.

"What the hell?" Dean blurted, glancing at Sam with wide eyes. "Who the ever loving hell uses a foghorn as a doorbell?!"

The door swung open, revealing a man significantly shorter than them both, with golden hair shining in the sunlight and golden eyes alight with mischief. "That would be me," the man announced, folding his arms and leaning against the door frame with his shoulder. "Took you two long enough."

Sam narrowed his eyes at the man, asking warily, "You were expecting us?"

The man nodded. "Of course. Big storm, and your little useless excuse for a boat capsized close enough that I figured it couldn't hurt to let you see the island so you wouldn't drown. I was feeling magnanimous, sue me."

"What the hell do you mean you let us see the island?" Dean demanded, completely bewildered. He was well aware of the fact that they hadn't noticed the island until after they'd already capsized, but that could be explained by the drama the storm had caused. At least, he was willing to let the storm explain it. He knew Sam had been suspicious of that too, but they'd decided the island was their best bet anyway. 

"Doesn't matter," the man dismissed with a wave of his hand. "You two are alive, which is good, and confused, which is to be expected. Come on in, and we'll get you taken care of."

"Who exactly are you?" Sam asked, holding up a hand to stop Dean from entering until the question was answered.

The man adjusted his position and stuck out his hand in greeting, a look of mock seriousness on his face. "The name is Gabriel. Very nice to meet you." When Sam tentatively took the man's hand to shake, he grinned broadly and began to vigorously shake it up and down, only stopping when Sam managed to retrieve his hand, clearly irritated.

"Are you some kind of nutjob?" Dean asked, with all the diplomacy and tact he was known for. Sam rolled his eyes behind him, wincing ever so slightly at his brother's bluntness.

Gabriel snorted, holding the door open and gesturing for them to enter. "Depends on who you ask. Welcome, anyway. Hang on, let me call my brother." Gabriel stood stock still for a second, then relaxed back into his natural fluidity and started to sway back and forth. "So, hungry? We could do dinner."

Sam and Dean exchanged glances as the door shut behind them, leaving them in a strange mansion with its even weirder owner. It was just their luck that being shipwrecked would only be the start of their day's oddities.


	2. Chapter 2

As Gabriel led the hunters through the entryway, they came across a massive staircase that dominated the main hall. Descending with a conflicting mixture of rigidity and fluidity was another man, this one only slightly shorter than the brothers, with ruffled black hair and piercing blue eyes.

"Ah, Castiel! Took you long enough." Gabriel greeted the newcomer, gesturing for him to join them. "Meet Sam and Dean Winchester, the guys that washed up on the beach. Tall and Taller, this is my little brother, Castiel."

Ignoring the nicknames, Sam's brow furrowed in confusion. Something was wrong with that sentence, but it took Sam a minute to realize that he and Dean hadn't told Gabriel their names yet. Sam froze with the realization, glancing at Dean to see that he'd figured it out too.

"It is nice to meet you both," Castiel greeted them cordially, reaching the bottom of the steps and coming to Gabriel's side. "I trust you were not injured in the storm?"

"We're fine," Sam replied, distracted. He turned to Gabriel, unsure how he was meant to be reacting. "We never told you our names," he stated, raising an eyebrow and daring the short and obnoxious mansion owner to provide an explanation.

Gabriel shrugged. "Didn't you? Eh, doesn't matter. I know everything! You'll figure that out eventually. C'mon, you're hungry, right? Or at least thirsty, I'm sure. We'll get some dinner in you and then you can ask questions. Sound good?"

Sam and Dean exchanged glances, not sure what exactly to do.

Castiel made a sound of irritation, giving his brother a half-hearted glare. Turning to Sam and Dean, he said, "I apologize for the attitude my brother is displaying. It has been quite some time since we have been around other people, and I believe you could say that our 'people skills' are 'rusty.'" Castiel punctuated the phrase with air quotes, causing Gabriel to snort loudly and roll his eyes.

"Yeah, well, are we going to stand around criticizing my social skills or can we eat?" Gabriel complained, bouncing in place on the balls of his feet.

"I guess we can eat...?" Dean hedged, looking to Sam with a perplexed expression. More often than not, Sam deferred to Dean in a hunting situation, but when Dean was out of his element, Sam was often the one to keep the ball rolling. In this case, they were both too confused to really function well. Being exhausted from swimming to the island in a storm hadn't helped.

"Great, follow me." Gabriel took off down a hallway, waving in and out of rooms that were lavishly decorated but barely looked used. Castiel trailed behind Sam and Dean, occasionally having to offer directions when Gabriel moved too quickly for them to keep up without running after him.

The four of them finally emerged into a grand dining room that was easily the size of an average apartment. The table dominated the room, and elaborate paintings of renaissance angels decorated the walls.

Castiel was looking around the room distastefully. "I dislike this room," he informed Gabriel. He glared half-heartedly at the paintings, seeming irritated by their existence.

His brother chuckled and shrugged at him. "I think it's funny. Take a seat, everyone." Gabriel pulled out a chair and plopped into it, lounging comfortably.

Sam and Dean sat down with more hesitation, sitting beside each other to Gabriel's left as Castiel circled around to sit to the shorter man's right.

"So, what, do you got servants in this giant ass house?" Dean asked, swiveling his head as though trying to determine where the food was going to come from.

"Nah, don't need 'em!" Gabriel replied. "What do you guys want?" He gestured broadly to the table, which was currently bare.

"Water would be great," Sam said pointedly. "And protein, preferably."

"How's steak sound?" Gabriel asked conversationally, glancing between the brothers.

Dean perked up immediately. "Dude, sounds awesome. Medium rare!"

Gabriel glanced at Castiel, who shook his head and shrugged simultaneously. "You know I am ambivalent," he replied.

"All right then, steaks all around and water for the supermodels that almost drowned today. Plus alcohol, cause it's not a dinner party without drinks." Gabriel smirked at the Winchesters, who made irritated faces at the allusion to their looks, then snapped his fingers.

Sam and Dean had similar reactions to their food and drink appearing in front of them without warning. Sam scooted back from the table and stood up so quickly his chair fell over. Dean leaped away from the table, narrowly avoiding falling over with his chair.

"What the hell?" Sam demanded, glaring at Gabriel. "What are you?"

"Awesome. Any other questions?" Gabriel glanced towards Dean, like it was his turn.

Dean looked frustrated at the lack of weapons he had at his disposal, and his fingers were twitching with the absence of a gun or knife. "You're not human," he stated, not really sure what he could demand from the as-yet-unknown creature without getting a smart ass response.

"Nope," Gabriel replied, popping the 'p' sound with his lips. "Any other obvious observations you'd like to make before you sit back down? It's dinner time, and I'm not setting up for a cage match in the dining room."

"Gabriel..." Castiel groaned, looking like he might be developing a headache. "Must you provoke them?"

"What are you?" Sam asked again, unmoving. His fists were clenched, and his whole body was tense. He and Dean were used to dealing with danger and suspenseful situations, but they'd never dealt with anything remotely like this. There was no element of fear, but they were clearly not in control of the situation, which was making them both supremely uncomfortable.

Gabriel waved a hand dismissively. "You wouldn't believe us if we told you. We're way above your pay grade. Would you two just eat already? You've gotta be exhausted from the whole almost drowning thing."

Sam narrowed his eyes again, scowling at the snarky man. "What do you, above our pay grade?"

"You may be hunters, but you mostly chase after ghosts and the odd werewolf or shapeshifter," Gabriel explained. "You're used to monsters and dead things, pretty run of the mill stuff."

"How the hell do you even know we're hunters?" Dean blurted, eyes wide as a myriad of expressions cycled across his face.

Castiel sighed heavily. "Gabriel, would you please just explain to them? Why did you bother allowing them to find haven on the island if you intended to accost them in this manner?"

Gabriel rolled his eyes with excessive drama and huffed. "Fine. I'll tell you, but you need to sit down and eat something. Deal?"

"How do we know it won't hurt us?" Sam pointed out. "If you know we're hunters, you have to know we're smarter than to eat food from anything non-human."

Gabriel groaned loudly. "It's not poisoned, and it won't hurt you! For the love of -- look, if I wanted you dead, I'd have left you to drown. Instead, I listen to Castiel's suggestion and made the island visible so you could swim to it. You're freaking welcome!"

Sam and Dean exchanged glances, weighing their options. On the one hand, nothing had happened so far to make them feel like they were in any danger from Gabriel and Castiel. The whole situation was weird as hell, but it didn't seem actually dangerous. At least, not yet. On the other hand, they now knew for a fact that the two men in the room with them were supernatural creatures of some sort, and when had that ever ended well?

After a moment of silent communication between the brothers, Dean turned to Gabriel and said, "You talk first. We'll decide if we trust you or not."

"Your steak is going to get cold," Gabriel pointed out, raising an eyebrow.

Sam mock snapped his fingers. "You can just make it fresh and hot again?"

"Point taken," Gabriel replied with a grin. "All right, sit down and we'll talk. Bro, you taking any of this or do I have to explain?"

Castiel shook his head. "You are the one who insisted on showing off. I have no such desire."

"Fine." Gabriel waited until the Winchesters had righted their chairs and sat back down before he said, "We're angels."

"Bullshit," Sam and Dean replied in unison.

"Angels aren't real," Dean continued disparagingly, like it was obvious.

Gabriel rolled his eyes. "Isn't that what the people you go to save tell you when you're trying to take care of the ghost or curse or whatever that wants them dead?"

Sam barely managed to resist responding with a smirk. "Fair enough. Can you prove it?"

"I'm sorry, was the instantly provided gourmet steak and potatoes not impressive enough for you?" Gabriel deadpanned, giving Sam a withering look.

Sam leaned over the table towards Gabriel, a serious expression on his face. "Look, if you're angels, that makes you  _the_ archangel Gabriel, right?"

"Smart kid," Gabriel said with a nod. "Your point?"

"I used to pray to the archangel Gabriel," Sam admitted, glancing sideways at Dean to see his older brother looking surprised. "We have a friend that's a priest, and he told me all about the archangels when I was little. I thought Gabriel sounded pretty cool, so I've prayed to him a few times over the years. Forgive me for being skeptical."

"The first time you prayed to me, you were ten years old," Gabriel said without missing a beat. "Your father and brother were over a week late getting home, and you were afraid they were dead, so you prayed to me for their safety."

Sam was aware that his mouth was hanging open in shock, but he couldn't quite seem to close it. Even as he'd offered the challenge to Gabriel to prove that he was really an angel, he hadn't even imagined that such proof would be offered so readily.

"Sam?" Dean's hand on the younger Winchester's shoulder seemed to snap him out of his shock, and Dean raised an eyebrow at the surprised expression on his brother's face. "Is that true?"

"Yeah," Sam acknowledged, still a little shell-shocked. "You guys were only supposed to be gone for two days. I think it was a black dog or something? I wasn't supposed to be alone that long, and I was panicking."

Dean's eyes widened in recollection. "Ohhh...I remember that. We got dragged into the forest by the damn thing and it took us forever just to kill it, then we had to traipse back to town to find the car. We did almost die - I was knocked out and the black dog went after Dad, but when I woke up, Dad was unconscious and the thing was dead, and we were both in one piece."

Sam's head whipped around to stare at Gabriel. "Did you do something?"

Gabriel's face was exactly like a child trying to appear innocent. "I haven't left this island in decades," he declared.

If the look Castiel was giving his brother was any indication, that was a lie, but Sam decided not to push it. If the archangel had somehow saved Dean and John all those years ago, Sam was grateful, but that wasn't an important point now. Sam was glad Gabriel hadn't mentioned the most recent time he had prayed to the archangel - just over three years before when his girlfriend had burst into flames on the ceiling of their apartment.

"Does this mean I can eat the steak?" Dean asked, glancing at Sam to see if they were on the same page.

Sighing, Sam nodded. "I'm not one hundred percent on board with this, but I don't think the dinner is going to kill us either."

"Congratulations." Gabriel snapped his fingers and the plates began steaming again and the water contained fresh ice. "Will you eat now?"

The Winchesters dug in, both barely repressing orgasmic noises at the quality of the meat. As it turns out, nearly drowning takes a lot out of you.


	3. Chapter 3

It was about fifteen minutes later that Sam finally broke and asked, "So, if you're angels, what are you doing on a hidden island in a mansion?"

Gabriel glanced at his wrist, though he wasn't wearing a watch, and smirked. "Nice job, kiddo. You lasted about four minutes longer than I thought you would."

"Not the first time you've heard that, huh, Sam?" Dean teased, grinning lasciviously. If the look on his face was any indication, he'd forgotten about the complicated supernatural experience they're having in favor of the quality steak.

Sam shot Dean a bitchface before focusing on Gabriel again. "Well?" He prompted.

Gabriel stretched out in his seat and sighed. "We're sort of hiding from Heaven," he said nonchalantly.

Raising an eyebrow, Sam waved a hand towards Gabriel. "Go on," he urged.

Gabriel shook his head. "Nah, you don't need to know the gory details. Basically I have no morals and Castiel didn't do anything except follow me a little too closely."

"You know I do not regret that, brother," Castiel protested, brow furrowed.

Gabriel smiled back at him, but it was a sad smile. "Yeah, I know. Doesn't change the facts though."

Sam returned to eating, trying to think of other questions he could ask without being shut down.

"I can see you thinking from here, kiddo," Gabriel pointed out after a few moments silence. "If you want to ask something, just ask it. I may answer, I may not. It's like Russian Roulette, but fun!"

Sam stared at the smaller man for a moment, completely at a loss for how to react. "What happens now?" He finally asked, realizing that it was the most important question at the moment.

Gabriel hummed to himself. "I guess you guys might want to shower and change." He snapped his fingers, but nothing seemed to happen.

"What'd you do?" Dean asked, glancing down at himself like he expected Gabriel to have snapped him clean.

Gabriel pointed vaguely in the direction of upstairs. "I put all your luggage in two of the guest rooms," he replied with a shrug. "You guys can go freshen up or whatever when you're done eating."

"Gabriel, you will need to provide some sort of directions," Castiel pointed out. "This building is unreasonably large, especially for people who have no experience navigating it."

Rolling his eyes, Gabriel snapped his fingers again and a line of wall paneling appeared, circling the entire room and out into the hallway.

"What the...?" Sam trailed off, trying to figure out the purpose of the new addition.

Dean's eyes lit up. "Dude, is that like the set up from the Enterprise?"

Gabriel grinned. "Glad to know my talents are appreciated. Test it out!"

Dean stood up and moved to the wall, tapping the screen and asking, "Computer, where's my room?"

"Dean Winchester, your room is located on the second floor in the 'B' wing, next to Sam Winchester and down the hall from Gabriel and Castiel." The computer voice informed him.

Turning back to Gabriel, Dean flashed him a thumb's up. "All right, dude, you got style, I'll give you that."

Sam rolled his eyes at both of them. "And you call me a nerd?" He demanded of Dean, raising an eyebrow.

"It's Star Trek, man!" Dean protested.

Sam glanced at the screen again, then back at Dean dubiously. "I'm pretty sure that's not what Kirk and Spock had."

"Star Trek: Next Generation," Dean corrected himself. "Whatever, you knew what I meant."

"You're still a nerd," Sam muttered, smirking to himself.

Gabriel cleared his throat. "If you guys are done eating, feel free to head upstairs. Castiel and I will be around. If you say our names, we'll find you."

Sam stabbed the last piece of his steak with his fork and finished it off, nodding in appreciation. "Thanks, we'll do that."

Dean was already done, so he hopped up to follow Sam out of the dining room, tapping the screens every few feet to get the computer to confirm they were going the right way.

Sam gritted his teeth and ignored it, refusing to admit that the process had helped them find the rooms faster than he would have on his own. They ended up in front of two identical doors right next to each other, one with a D on it, and one with and S.

"Nice of them to label the doors for us," Dean snarked, rolling his eyes. He pushed open the door for his room, then stopped dead in the doorway, mouth open in shock. "Holy crap."

"What?" Sam poked his head in after his brother and almost lost his balance in his surprise. "Okay, wow."

The room was not dissimilar to a luxury hotel suite, but it was one massive room. There was a television and entertainment set up that dominated most of the wall, and across from that a bed that looked luxurious enough for a palace. A chandelier hung from the ceiling, and Dean's duffel from their motel back in the US was sitting neatly at the foot of the bed, looking completely out of place. The carpet was a plush light gray with a sheen to it that reflected the light, and several massive mirrors made the room seem even larger than it was.

"I wanna see yours," Dean demanded, backing up and reaching for the door to Sam's room. The brothers tumbled in to find an identical room, save for differences in color. Dean's room was mostly grays and metallic shades, and Sam's was all blues and greens. He had the same type of carpeting, but his was the color of sea foam instead, and Sam thought that if he was drunk enough he might even mistake it for the ocean. 

"This is insane," Sam muttered, stepping into his room and digging through his duffel, relieved to find it exactly as he'd left it. Glancing up, he realized there was a secondary door which must lead to the bathroom. He motioned to it, and Dean nodded, stepping towards the door with him.

The door to the bathroom swung open to reveal a gilded luxury spa, complete with the largest bathtub Sam had ever seen and a toilet with a bunch of buttons he was almost afraid to press. Dean had gotten side tracked by the shower, which apparently had a variety of settings the elder Winchester was excited by.

"Dude, I'm going to go lock myself in my bathroom and never leave," Dean announced, eyes glazing over. "Holler if you need me."

Sam snorted and nodded. "Knock yourself out." Despite everything else warring for his attention, Sam figured it couldn't hurt to spend a little time in the bathroom too.

* * *

 

When Sam and Dean finally made their way downstairs again, it had been almost two hours, most of which had been spent in the showers. Dean looked ecstatic, and Sam was more relaxed than he could remember being in a long time, despite the potential gravity of their situation.

"How did you find your rooms?" Castiel asked, appearing behind them and startling both brothers.

Dean grinned broadly. "The shower is amazing." He felt loose and boneless, more relaxed than he'd been in years, and the water pressure had felt like the best massage ever.

"Is it?" Castiel asked. "I am glad. I have never actually tested it."

Dean raised an eyebrow at that. "What, do angels not stink or something?"

Castiel looked perplexed. "I am unsure. Why, do I have an odor?" He moved closer, as though expecting Dean to check for him.

Dean backed up, holding his hands up. "Wow, dude, no, you smell fine. I just didn't realize angels wouldn't need to shower or anything."

"I have no need of most human customs," Castiel explained. "I have come to enjoy some things, such as sleeping and eating, because of the influence of my brother."

"Where is the holy terror?" Sam asked casually, half hoping the archangel was within hearing range.

Gabriel appeared next to Castiel, huffing at Sam. "I heard that."

"I figured you might," Sam replied with a smirk. He wasn't one hundred percent comfortable with how things were, but he didn't really think Gabriel or Castiel were dangerous per se, 

"What do you guys want to do?" Gabriel asked, rocking back and forth on his heels. "We could play board games, watch movies, play cowboys and indians..."

Dean huffed a laugh and shook his head. "Look, we need to start talking about how we're going to get out of here. Can you like snap us back to the motel we were at before?"

"Oh, you can't leave," Gabriel replied casually. "So, anyway, you in the mood for ice cream? Obviously I can do any flavor --"

"The hell do you mean we can't leave?" Dean demanded, all the cool and calm from his shower fading in an instant.

Sam was tense again, and his eyes narrowed at the archangel. "Why?" He asked, voice low and dangerous.

Gabriel rolled his eyes and pointed at himself and Castiel. "What part of hiding from Heaven didn't make sense? Sorry, guys, you're stuck here. Might as well make the most of it, right?"

"You can't just keep us here like prisoners!" Dean exploded. He turned to Castiel and demanded, "You okay with this too? Are you both crazy psychopaths?"

Castiel hesitated and turned to his brother. "It does seem unfair to doom them to our fate," he offered.

Gabriel rolled his eyes. "Ugh, fine. I'll make you a deal. The two of your make it to the beach without being caught by me or my bleeding heart brother over here, you're free. If you don't, you gotta come back to the mansion. You can try as many times as you like. In the meantime, board games or no?"

Sam nodded thoughtfully. "No hidden clauses or anything?" He checked, skeptical of the archangel's sincerity.

"Cross my heart," Gabriel replied, nodding seriously. "I like entertaining things, and it'll be amusing to give you two a fighting chance. You're not going anywhere right this second, obviously, so can we please discuss our evening plans?"

"You're freakin' weird," Dean muttered, still looking offended.

Castiel looked like he wasn't sure whose side he was on, so he gave Dean an apologetic look as he stood beside his brother.

"If we make it to the beach, you send us back to the US?" Sam double checked.

Gabriel threw up his hands. "Yes! I promise! Happy?"

Glancing at each other, Sam and Dean nodded once, then took off running for the front door. The sheer number of rooms and hallways in the building made it difficult to navigate, but Sam finally managed to guide them to the door, only to discover Gabriel and Castiel standing in front of it, the former looking bored and the latter looking mildly amused.

"Really, guys? A mad dash for the door? You're smarter than that!" Gabriel tsked and turned away, heading back towards the interior of the mansion. "You going to keep doing dumb stuff like that or take the night to actually enjoy yourselves?"

Sam and Dean were frustrated, but Sam had to admit he hadn't really expected that to work. It was more of a test than anything else, and the ability the angels had to vanish and appear at will would be a problem if they wanted to take this race to the beach challenge seriously.

"Fine, we'll follow you," Dean grumbled, traipsing after the angels towards what ended up being a massive entertainment room. Turning to face Sam, he mouthed, "Tonight?"

Sam nodded, keeping an eye on Gabriel just in case. He didn't think they were in actual danger from the angels, but he sure as hell wasn't going to be stuck on an island for all eternity with them. He and Dean had stuff to do on the mainland, and their father was still missing. He could pretend this was an island vacation, but it wasn't true. Still, he and Dean were a great team. They'd figure out a way off, and then this bizarre experience would be nothing but a bump in the road.


	4. Chapter 4

Over the next few days, Sam and Dean totaled three escape attempts. They only made it out of the house twice, and the furthest they ever reached was about three yards down the path. Dean was pissed, and he let everyone know it. Castiel seemed to be taking Dean's poor attitude personally, and had taken to following the hunter around, trying to cheer him up. Sam would have found it funny if the whole situation wasn't so damn annoying. On one of his trips around the house, Sam discovered by accident that the angels had a massive library. He really shouldn't have been surprised, given the size of the mansion, but it wasn't really what he'd expected.

The best part of the library was the entire bookcase dedicated to angel lore. Using the computer system along the walls to send Dean a message letting him know where he was, Sam settled down in the library to read and didn't emerge until almost seven hours later when the growling in his stomach got Gabriel's attention and the archangel made him leave to eat. 

The brothers attempted another escape that night, but they failed to make it out of the house again. Sam was too tired to argue over the ridiculous game the angels were having them play, and managed to convince Dean to just go to bed.

When Sam awoke to discover Dean was in the shower - again - he left a note stuck to the wall opposite the bathroom door in his brother's room and headed back to the library. If they were stuck on this island, as they certainly seemed to be, he might as well do what he was good at, and that was research.

The was how Gabriel found him a few hours later, buried deep in piles of angel books, so immersed that he didn't even notice the archangel's arrival.

"What are you expecting to find in here?" Gabriel asked, mostly just curious.

Sam almost dropped the book he was scanning, swearing under his breath. "Wear a bell or something, would you?"

Gabriel smirked and snapped his fingers, suddenly decked out in enough bells to supply holiday cheer for dozens of Christmases. "Better?" He asked, dancing around a little to make the racket of bells grow louder and louder.

Sam covered his ears and winced, scowling at the archangel. "Okay, I take it back! Surprise appearances are better than bells!"

The bells vanished, and Gabriel dropped into a chair across from Sam, eyeing the hunter curiously. "So, you trying to discover a mysterious hidden weakness or something? I mean, I know you think I'm obnoxious, but I'd be hurt if you wanted me or Castiel dead."

Sam shook his head. "For some crazy reason, I don't actually think you guys are evil, so no, I don't want you dead. I do want the hell off your secret island, but you're not exactly being cooperative. Researching is what I do best, and you oh so helpfully have one of the largest libraries I've ever been in."

Gabriel nodded in understanding, looking more serious than he probably was. "You know, I don't think I'd ever been in this room until yesterday when I had to make you take a dinner break."

"Seriously?" Sam asked, surprised. "How can you have never been in the library?"

"I was less the reading type and more the marathon sex type," Gabriel replied casually.

Sam made an odd choking noise. "Excuse me?"

Gabriel shrugged. "I mean, not recently, since, you know, hiding, but I was pretty busy in my day."

Sam rubbed a hand over his face, exasperated. "Okay, look, you gotta give me some answers, man. Why are you here? Why are you hiding from Heaven? Why on earth does that mean Dean and I can't leave?"

Gabriel hummed to himself, looking Sam over speculatively. "Screw it, I'll bite. We do this my way though, kiddo. I'll answer one of your questions, you answer one of mine."

Sam raised an eyebrow. "What, your all seeing archangel powers don't tell you everything about me?"

Gabriel made a face at him. "It doesn't work like that, smartass. You wanna play, or what?"

"Fine, but you have to go fire. Why are you and Castiel hiding from Heaven?" Sam folded his arms and sat back, prepared to hear an explanation.

Sighing heavily, Gabriel rolled his eyes. "Couldn't start out small, could you, kiddo? All right, fine. Many, many, many years ago, I decided to be one of my only brothers who actually obeyed our Father's commands and went to look out for humanity. I liked being with the humans because you guys do so freaking much that we don't. I may have been a little enamored with all the freedoms being among humans allowed. So, I built a vessel," he paused to gesture to his body, "and spent all my time on Earth, dabbling in a little of everything humanity had to offer. Apparently Heaven frowns on Hedonism, so when I got the word that I was going to be hunted down and punished, I fled. Castiel got caught up in all this because he looked up to me, followed me around, and ended up on Heaven's most wanted list right next to me, even though he didn't do anything. It sucks, but it is what it is. At least we aren't cut off from Heaven, even if we can't go back. Neither of us disobeyed Father per se, so we still have our powers and everything." Gabriel paused, then asked abruptly, "What's your favorite color?"

"Blue," Sam answered, startled. "Wait, that's your question?"

Gabriel shrugged. "I was curious, sue me. Your turn."

Sam took a second to re-calibrate, then realized what he wanted to know. "You said you built a vessel - what does that mean?"

"Angels need vessels, like a host," Gabriel explained. "We need permission and angelic vessels are easy to track, so when I came down to Earth full time, I just built my own so I didn't have to mess with human ones anymore. I built Castiel's too, although I had to go through generations upon generations of his ideal vessel before he found one he thought was 'suitable' enough for me to copy for him. No idea why, he just said it felt right or something. Mine's modeled after the guy I used the most before I came down here full time." Gabriel shrugged, seeming to think the information wasn't that important.

Sam, on the other hand, found it fascinating. He wasn't sure if it helped him at all, but it was definitely interesting. "So, what, Heaven is after you because you're a sex fiend?"

Gabriel pouted at Sam, then huffed. "Well, if you want to put it that way...still, I've been celibate longer than you've been alive by quite a bit, so I hardly think I qualify as a sex fiend. I swore off all of that after my wild and crazy life got Castiel kicked out Heaven with me. Anyway, it's my turn to ask a question."

Sam waved a hand at Gabriel. "Fine, shoot."

"Favorite animal," Gabriel decided after a moment of consideration.

Sam huffed a laugh and shook his head. "I love dogs. Is this really vital information you're dying to know?"

"I'm curious about you," Gabriel replied nonchalantly. "What, would you rather I asked you how many inches?"

Sam scowled, uncomfortably aware that his cheeks were a little pink. "Okay, moving on. I guess I get why you're hiding, but why do Dean and I have to stay here?"

Gabriel blew out a breath slowly. "All right, that's a little more complicated. I mentioned that I built our vessels so we couldn't be tracked?" Gabriel waited until Sam nodded. "Right, well, angels have grace. That's what lets me do stuff like this." Gabriel snapped his fingers and handed a bouquet of electric blue roses to Sam, who just blinked and held them out a little warily. "It's kind of like a power source slash soul slash whatever else you want to call it."

"Okay, tracking with you so far," Sam acknowledged, tentatively setting down the vibrant flowers on the side table beside his chair and giving them a dubious look.

"So Castiel and I warded this island up to the max a long time ago. Heaven cannot find us here, which is why we don't leave. I mean, not that a few quick vacations would get us caught in an instant, but we pretty much can't get away with being out and about sans protection for more than half an hour or so. You and Dean, well, you're a wrench in the works." Gabriel gave the hunter a look like he should be sorry about that.

"That's where you lose me," Sam pointed out. "I don't get how us leaving hurts your whole hiding thing."

Gabriel huffed at him. "You've come into contact with us," he explained. "You leave, and they can track your trail right back to us, theoretically. I don't think they'd actually come after you, but there could use you to find us, and then Castiel and I would be dead."

Sam sat back, thinking hard. "Okay, not that I'm not sympathetic, because despite my better judgement, I don't actually want you dead, but there's gotta be a way to get rid of whatever angel cooties you think Heaven can track so Dean and I can leave."

Gabriel shrugged. "Maybe."

Sam raised an eyebrow. "But, what, you're not going to bother to find out?"

Still looking completely ambivalent, Gabriel waved his hands ambiguously in the air. "All right, look, I'll make you a deal. Escape to the beach is still the game, but if you somehow find some special thing in any of these books that'll make it one hundred percent safe for you to leave, then I'll start giving you guys a two minute head start."

Sam narrowed his eyes. "Why wouldn't you just let us go if I find a way to make it safe?"

"Because it's my island and I make the rules," Gabriel replied with a grin. "Plus, the escape thing is way more fun."

"Why do you want us to stay so badly?" Sam asked, wondering now if there was more to it than what the archangel had revealed.

Gabriel sighed. "Look, truth be told, Castiel and I have been alone for a really long time, and we like you guys. Don't worry, fair's fair, if you make it to the beach you can go, but I'm not going to help you out with your grand escape anymore than I have to. It's actually nice to have someone else around."

Sam rubbed at his forehead, hating the sympathy he was feeling for the angels. "Ugh, fine, you have a deal. I hope you realize this is completely ridiculous by the way."

"Duly noted. What's your favorite book?" Gabriel leaned forward, eyes wide like the answer to his question was exceedingly important.

" _To Kill A Mockingbird_ , probably," Sam replied. "It's the only book I've ever worn out from re-reading."

Gabriel gave him an appraising look. "I agree with Dean-o. You are a nerd."

Sam threw his hands up and shot the archangel an exasperated look. "It's not that nerdy!"

"Aw, don't worry kiddo. It's endearing! You're adorable, I promise." Gabriel grinned and nodded in what he probably thought was a reassuring manner.

"Gee, thanks," Sam replied wryly. He picked up the bouquet Gabriel had made him and asked, "Don't suppose you have a vase for these?"

Gabriel snapped his fingers and the flowers were relocated to a vase on the table beside Sam's chair, brightening up the otherwise dark room. "How's that?"

"Not bad," Sam admitted. "I can see why you'd be handy to have around."

Gabriel rolled his eyes and chuckled. "Wow, I feel honored. C'mon, let's go find our brothers and watch a movie or something. You can research your little heart out later."

Sam debated arguing with the archangel for a second, then shrugged and stood to his feet. "All right, fine, but only if you promise not to make a habit of interfering with my research," he warned, wagging a finger at the shorter man.

"Cross my heart," Gabriel replied, moving his finger in what was probably supposed to be a cross shape, but ended up looking more like a nine pointed star or something.

"Smooth," Sam teased, snorting to himself. He kept up with the ball of energy beside him as they headed out into the massive expanse that was the house, looking for Dean and Castiel. Sam wasn't one hundred percent happy with their agreement, but he'd done more with less. Besides, as frustrating as it was to not be able to leave, Sam couldn't say he hated the company.


	5. Chapter 5

Sam woke up the next morning to Dean shaking his bed. The younger Winchester groaned and rolled over. "Go 'way," he muttered, not willing to get up yet. It had to be pretty early, which made it a miracle Dean was even awake, but Sam didn't see why he needed to join the world quite yet.

"Dude, we need to make a plan for today," Dean hissed. "We've been here way too long already. "

Sam rolled over and glared at Dean. "We don't have to do anything," he grumbled. "Go back to bed."

"What's wrong with you?" Dean demanded. "What, you don't want to escape anymore."

Frustrated with the obvious realization he wasn't going to be allowed to go back to sleep, Sam sat up and rubbed a hand over his face, groaning. "Look, Dean, we're not in any danger here, Gabriel and Castiel aren't evil, and there's plenty to do. Gabriel and I sort of made a deal that'll help us get out of here, but it's not going to happen overnight. This whole making a run for it thing isn't working, clearly."

Dean had an odd look on his face at the mention of Gabriel. "You made a deal?" He asked, voice dangerously low.

Sam held up a hand. "Not what you're thinking. You know I've been reading through all the angel lore in the library?" Sam waited until Dean nodded in acknowledgement. "Okay, well Gabriel explained that they don't want us to leave because Heaven might be able to track back to the island because of us. They also like us, apparently, but that's not the issue. Gabriel agreed that if I can figure out a way to make it safe for them if we leave, then he'll give us a two minute head start in this stupid race to the beach game."

Dean processed that for a moment, then made a bewildered face. "Why a head start? Why not just let us go?"

"Because he thinks the race is more entertaining," Sam sighed. "Plus, like I said, they like having us here, and I don't think they want us to leave even if we could without it hurting their hideout."

"Bastards," Dean huffed, falling back across Sam's bed with a moan. "You seriously think we should just sit around until you read the magic book that gets us a two minute head start?"

Sam shrugged. "Pretty sure that's our best option. I mean, think about it, man. Why do we have to get back to the mainland right this second? Like, what's waiting for us? Dad's still missing in action, and it's not like we had a pressing case coming up after the boat thing."

Dean gave him a withering look. "Dude, my car? She's just sitting at that motel! Maybe she's even been towed away by now!" Dean sat up, looking slightly panicked. "Oh god, what if someone towed her?"

That thought was actually enough to concern Sam too, even if it was mostly just for Dean's sake. "Hang on, let me get dressed and I'll go find Gabriel. Maybe he can do something."

Scowling, Dean pushed himself up off the bed and started pacing. "You really think the pocket sized douche angel is going to help when he won't let us leave?"

Sam rolled his eyes. "Archangel," he correct absently, picking through his duffel bag for a new shirt. "Plus, he's not a douche. He's a little obnoxious, but he's not an asshole."

Dean raised an eyebrow. "Please don't tell me you actually like him." The last thing he needed was his brother developing Stockholm Syndrome or whatever else happened when you were held captive. That wouldn't bode well for future escape attempts.

Sam pursed his lips, holding a new shirt in one hand while searching for his jeans with the other. "Let's just say I sympathize with him. He's not a bad guy. Neither is Castiel, for that matter."

"Castiel's fine," Dean dismissed. "Guy's quiet, but he's not mean or anything. Gabriel's the one that gets on my nerves."

"Is Castiel still following you around?" Sam asked, lips twitching with amusement. Somehow the angel had decided it was his personal quest to try and make Dean comfortable, since the older Winchester's disapproval of the whole situation was so tangible.

Dean made a face. "We're working on the definition of personal space," he grouched. "He's nice and all, but he doesn't really understand the concept of 'alone time.'"

Sam decided not to dissect that any further and headed for the bathroom. "All right, I'm going to get dressed and go find Gabriel. What are your plans for the day?"

"I was going to make another run for the beach," Dean said pointedly.

Sam rubbed at his eyes. "All right, fine, if I humor you and we take off right this second, then after we get caught will you let me do this my way?"

"You're so pessimistic," Dean huffed. "For all you know we could make it because the angels are asleep."

"They don't sleep," Sam reminded him. "I think Gabriel does sometimes, just because he likes it, but I get the impression Castiel doesn't bother. Even if they were both asleep though, you know they'd be up in time to stop us."

"Fine, if we get caught again then I promise to let you do your research and not try to run again until you're ready. Deal?" Dean held out his hand pointedly.

Sam rolled his eyes and shook his brother's hand. "Fine. Let me get dressed first and we'll go."

* * *

 

It took everything Sam had not to actually say "I told you so" when they ran into Gabriel leaning up against a tree right outside the front door eating an apple. Getting through the house was taking less time every time they tried, but they had yet to make it more than a few feet away from the house without being caught.

"Hey, guys," Gabriel greeted them, finishing off the apple and tossing the core into the jungle. "It's a little early, isn't it? What, no beauty sleep?"

"Dean woke me up," Sam explained, giving his brother a half-hearted glare. "I needed to talk to you though anyway."

Gabriel accepted that Sam had expected to be stopped with a look of mild amusement and nodded at the taller hunter. "Sure. What's up?"

"Dean's worried about his car," Sam explained.

"We left her at the motel before we headed out on our case," Dean continued, folded his arms and trying not to look sullen. "You've kept us cooped up here so long she's probably been towed!" His volume increased, very obviously broadcasting his mood.

Castiel appeared beside Gabriel, brow furrowed. "What seems to be the matter?"

Gabriel shrugged. "My impression is that Dean-o here is unhealthily attached to his car."

Sam snorted before he could catch himself and mouthed 'sorry' when Dean turned to give him a withering glare. "Look, we both grew up in that car. It's important, and if we're going to be here for awhile, we just want to know that the car is safe."

"What sort of vehicle is it?" Castiel asked, looking expectantly at Dean.

"1967 Chevy Impala," Dean declared proudly. "Black like the night sky."

Gabriel made a thoughtful noise and sighed. "Not bad. I'll look into it, okay? We can't bring it here though. I don't want to mess with that, and I'm not transporting a whole car over here. It's too big of a risk for detection. Anybody you're comfortable with getting custody while you're away?"

Sam hadn't even considered the logistics of protecting the Impala, and now that he was thinking about it, he wasn't sure what the best choice was. They obviously couldn't give it to Dad, partly because they didn't know where he was, but also because nothing would be more dedicated in tracking down the angels than their dad. Giving him the car was out of the question if they wanted this situation to end well.

Dean glanced at Sam, who was still thinking, and tentatively asked, "Bobby?"

Sam relaxed instantly. "That should have been obvious," he admitted. "Yeah, of course it should go to Bobby. I mean, he'll freak out, but he can take care of her no problem."

"Bobby...?" Gabriel prompted.

Dean straightened, giving the archangel his attention. "Robert Singer," he clarified. "Bobby's what he goes by. We should write him a note or something, otherwise you're just going to freak him out."

Castiel turned to Gabriel, nodding in agreement. "That would be a wise idea. It protects everyone, and will also keep the very important vehicle safe."

Dean looked surprised, but pleased, and completely missed the look of amusement Sam was shooting him.

Gabriel threw up his hands. "Okay, fine, write a note, and I'll go deal with the car. After that though I want ice cream sundaes."

"As long as there's caramel sauce," Sam interjected, ignoring the look Dean gave him in response.

"Deal," Gabriel replied with a grin. "Go write your note, and then I'll take off. What motel am I looking for again?"

* * *

 

Bobby Singer walked outside bouncing a tennis ball, expecting to toss it a few times to give his dog a little bit of a workout. "Lazy mutt," he grumbled affectionately, narrowly dodging the dog's enthusiastic jump. Glancing up to find the best place to toss the ball, Bobby came to a stand still, staring in shock at his front yard.

The Winchester's Impala sat in his yard, gleaming and looking just as imposing as ever, but with no Winchester's in sight. A piece of paper lay on the hood, held in place by the keys.

"What the hell?" Bobby muttered, moving forward and picking up the paper, pocketing the keys automatically.

_Dear Bobby,_

_I know we haven't talked to you in a few weeks, but Sam and I are kind of in a little bit of a bind at the moment. We're fine, and we're not in danger, but we're not able to contact anyone or leave where we are right now. I know, I know, but don't panic. Seriously, we're not in any danger. I mean, I'm a little stir crazy, but Sam thinks we're safe, so. We'll get out of here eventually, promise. Anyway, I want to make sure that my baby was safe while I couldn't take care of her, so we're giving her to you. Trust me, I'm coming back for her, so you better take damn good care of her._

_\- Dean_

_P.S. Bobby, this is Sam - please don't look for us. This is a complicated situation, and people hunting us down will just make it worse. I promise, we'll explain everything when we can. If you find Dad, stop him from looking too. You know we thought he was watching us, but if he gets involved in this, a lot of bad stuff could happen. We'll make it back. Just, take care of the car, and if we can write again, we will. Stay safe._

"Damn idjits!" Bobby cursed, glaring at the Impala as though it might succumb to his irritation and explain everything the note had been so vague about. He'd been helping the boys in their quest to find their dad since a few months after the man had gone missing, and he was pretty much their number one hunting contact. It wasn't unusual for him not hear from them for a few weeks, but it had started to make him anxious. Now he found that he actually had cause for worry. The boys could tell him not to be worried about them all they liked, but an ambiguous note and randomly appearing Impala in his yard was not instilling him with confidence.

So, the boys were missing. Well, it couldn't hurt to do a little digging, no matter what the boys said. Plus, if he happened across John, then once he'd beat the tar out of the man maybe they could work together. No matter what, he wasn't abandoning those boys.


	6. Chapter 6

Sam had eventually gone back to the library, not that Dean was surprised. If they had any hope of getting off the island, then the library was probably the best place for Sam. Still, that left Dean to his own devices, and he didn't really have a plan to occupy himself. He was still thinking about Sam's revelation regarding what Gabriel had said, and it occurred to him that he had a good way to find out if any of it was true.

"I know you're here," Dean called, flopping into a sofa chair in what could have been classified the living room and waiting for Castiel to materialize.

The angel appeared with what Dean would have called chagrin if it hadn't been gone so quickly. "Hello, Dean. Can I assist you with anything?"

Dean pointed to the chair across from himself and waved his hand at it. "Take a seat." At Castiel's curious look, Dean rolled his eyes and added, "I just gotta couple questions, okay? Relax."

Castiel tentatively sat down, looking at Dean with his brow furrowed and the slight frown to his face that Dean was beginning to realize was just the angel's natural expression. "How can I help?"

"Sam was telling me about some stuff Gabriel told him yesterday, and I wanna know how much of it is true." Dean scowled as he mentioned Gabriel, then let his expression relax as he explained what he wanted.

Castiel still looked puzzled. "You trust me to clarify what my brother has said, yet you do not trust him at all. Why am I different?"

The question startled Dean, and he blinked at Castiel a few times before coming up with an answer. "Gabriel's a dick," Dean explained with all his usual tact. "You're...I don't know, not."

"You trust me because I do not irritate you?" Castiel asked, seeming skeptical.

Dean huffed. "No, it's not that, although that helps. You've been like weirdly preoccupied with making sure I'm not miserable, or whatever it is you've been doing, and that makes me think you don't have any nefarious plans. That's good enough."

Castiel seemed to accept that logic, and he nodded carefully. "Very well. I am honored by your trust. What is it you wish to ask me?"

Dean hesitated. Sam hadn't actually given him a full run down on whatever Gabriel had said, so they'd have to compare notes later. "Gabriel told Sam that you guys won't let us leave because you think we'll accidentally bring Heaven down on you, but apparently he also said it's because you like us?" He made the statement into a question at the last minute, raising an eyebrow.

Castiel shifted in a surprisingly human motion, seeming almost uncomfortable. "Our concerns about Heaven are both honest and legitimate fears," he agreed. "As far as our feelings regarding the presence of you and your brother..." Castiel trailed off, brow furrowing again. "I fail to see how you could be surprised by the admission."

Dean really wasn't surprised by the idea that Castiel liked him, or at least his company. The angel had been following him around the entire time he'd been on the island. He doubted Gabriel felt anything towards him other than a strong desire to annoy. Gabriel seemed to have taken a shine to Sam though, so maybe it was true for both angels in different ways.

Castiel shifted slightly. "Was that all you wished to know?" He asked with hesitation.

"Why do you like me? Or us, I guess?" Dean asked before he could really think about it. He wasn't used to having people like him. He charmed the ladies here and there, sure, but the only people he'd ever spent any significant time with were his father and Sam, plus the occasional family friend like Bobby or Pastor Jim. He wasn't sure if they counted or not. Either way, he didn't really have friends, or even relationships that lasted more than a week or two.

"Sam is a very intelligent and interesting young man," Castiel offered. "I find his company interesting. You..." Castiel paused, looking thoughtful. "You are belligerent, befuddling, and brilliant. I find you fascinating. It has been a very long time since I had the company of anyone outside of my brother, and you are certainly a worthy companion, Dean."

Dean spared a moment to be amused by Castiel's alliteration and wonder if the angel had done it on purpose before the words caught up with him. "You think I'm brilliant?" Dean asked, completely confused by the description. He knew he could be clever in a pinch, but Sam was the brains of the operation - always had been. Dean's GED didn't exactly scream MENSA.

Castiel blinked. "Of course. You doubt yourself? You have proven yourself to be highly skilled in strategy, and I have seen exceptional decisions result from your thoughts, even though your escape attempts have been futile. You and your brother are a perfect compliment to each other in terms of mental prowess. It is very interesting to observe."

"Huh." Dean wasn't actually sure how to respond to that. He couldn't very well deny it, since that's not how compliments worked, and he was pretty sure he was being complimented. "Thanks, I guess," he decided to offer after a moment's consideration.

"You are quite welcome," Castiel replied, something approaching a smile on his face.

Another beat of silence went by, during which Dean debated himself quite fiercely before giving up and asking, "Do you want to go chill in front of the tv until our brothers reappear?"

Castiel looked surprised, then exceedingly pleased. "I would enjoy that very much, Dean."

* * *

Gabriel had been sitting behind Sam watching the young hunter read for twenty minutes. He knew because he had been counting the seconds, waiting for Sam to acknowledge his presence. Sam knew full well that the archangel was there, but Sam was busy reading, and had decided as soon as he felt Gabriel arrive that he wasn't going to give in.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were trying to hurt my feelings," Gabriel finally said, clocking in at twenty-one and a half minutes of silence. Sam had to wonder if that was a new record for the archangel.

"Nah," Sam replied without looking up, even though he could tell from the corner of his eye that the archangel had moved to sit across from him like he'd done the day before. "You'd know if I was trying."

Gabriel snorted and tilted his head to take a look at the cover of Sam's book of course. "The Complete Tome Of Angelic Lore?" He commented. "Isn't that a little on the nose?"

Sam glanced up at that, raising an eyebrow. "You expected me to start with fringe research and eventually move my way towards useful information over time?" He asked skeptically.

Gabriel rolled his eyes. "No, but the least you could do is make it seem like you aren't dying to rush out the door."

Sam's lips twitched towards a smile. "Rushing out the door hasn't been a problem most of the time."

"Fine, dying to get to the beach, whatever." Gabriel stuck his tongue out at Sam, grinning when the hunter seemed to have to actively think about it to stop from returning the juvenile gesture.

"Did you actually need something?" Sam asked, giving the archangel a pointed look.

Gabriel shrugged. "I just figured I'd see what you're up to. Castiel is with Dean, and they'll probably be doing whatever it is they do for awhile."

Sam hummed in reply noncommittally, returning to his book. "Well, I'm reading. Why don't you go do whatever it is you did before we got here?"

"Because playing with my cock is way more fun with two people," Gabriel replied immediately.

Sam didn't drop his book, but it was a near thing. He stared up at Gabriel, eyes wide in shock. "Excuse me?" He managed to demand.

Gabriel grinned, his expression nothing short of lascivious. "I just thought I'd see if you wanted to take a study break," he offered, feigning nonchalance.

Sam's eyes narrowed. "In your bedroom?" He asked dryly.

"Or wherever," Gabriel replied in agreement. "I'm easy."

Sam rolled his eyes this time. "I'm getting that."

Huffing a laugh, Gabriel added, "On the details, not my partner. This is all about you, kiddo. I like you."

Setting aside the book, Sam leaned forward and gave Gabriel a calculating look. "So, you unexpectedly end up with two hunters stranded on your secret island, after remaining celibate for who knows how long, and your first thought is to bang one of them?"

Gabriel laughed. "Don't be so cynical. You're the body and the brains, kiddo. What's not to like? I never even considered your brother - it's all you."

Curious, Sam asked, "Why me and not Dean?"

Gabriel scowled. "Dean-o's too much like me. It's annoying. We'd have like hate sex or something and then kill each other. Too messy. Besides, you're hotter."

Sam's eyebrows shot up in surprise even as he was startled into a laugh by Gabriel's admission. It wasn't like he thought he was unattractive or anything, but he'd spent his whole life hearing about how attractive Dean was. Sam drew his fair share of attention, but he didn't tend to attract the same kind of crowds that Dean did.

Gabriel held his hand up in a mock pledge. "I swear to Daddy dearest, kiddo. Seriously, we should take advantage of this situation."

"I'm not going to have sex with you just because we happen to be stuck on the same island together," Sam said pointedly. "Even if I was tempted -  _which I'm not_ \- I don't do the whole meaningless thing."

Gabriel's eyes lit up. "You want to be wooed!" He crowed, looking ecstatic.

"Yeah," Sam replied, without really listening. As soon as Gabriel's words sunk in, he jerked his head back up, a look of horror on his face. "Wait, no, that's not--"

Gabriel ignored him, grinning. "Don't worry, Samsquatch. Prepare to be courted like a princess!" The archangel disappeared, thrilled with his new project and the potential reward.

Sam stared at the space Gabriel had just vacated, his mouth hanging open a little in shock. "Oh, hell," he muttered, sinking his head into his hands. Part of his brain was frighteningly occupied with how Dean was going to react to learning that Gabriel intended to court the younger Winchester, in the archangel's words, 'like a princess.' The other part of his brain was bizarrely eager to see what Gabriel was going to come up with, and Sam was really unclear on how he was even considering being okay with allowing an archangel to try and win his heart. If that was what was going on, at least. Sam was a little too shell-shocked to be sure.

The book Sam had been reading lay forgotten next to him, and he glared at it half-heartedly. It wasn't the book's fault that he was now too distracted to concentrate, but he couldn't really bring himself to pick it up again. Instead he found him staring at the bouquet of roses Gabriel had given him yesterday. The whole situation may have given him whiplash, but maybe it wasn't as out of nowhere as it seemed. Gabriel hadn't had much interaction in awhile, and Sam couldn't argue with the fact that Gabriel at least enjoyed his company. Maybe the whole zero to sixty of Gabriel's flirtation made sense after all. That didn't make it any easier for Sam to absorb, but he thought he could understand it.

Of course, Gabriel had already succeeded in getting Sam to like him, if nothing else. If he succeeded in wooing Sam, or whatever he was planning, then all Sam could really think about was the look on Dean's face. He was fairly confident that this whole situation wasn't going to end pretty no matter what. He picked up the angel lore tome and took a deep breath. Studying was still in his best interests for the time being.


	7. Chapter 7

Dean knew that he had agreed to let Sam research and stop making runs for the beach, but he hadn't really realized how much free time not escaping or planning to escape was going to leave him. He was sleeping a lot, which made him feel like he was getting soft, so he ended up pacing the entire length of the mansion one night instead of going to bed. That in turn led to his discovery of the massive pool in the right wing of the building, which was adjacent to a pretty sweet gym. After that discovery, the gym was the first thing Dean did in the morning, followed by a brisk swim and a quick shower to clean off. Once Sam realized Dean had found a work out room, he started taking little breaks from the library to exercise as well. They may not have been actively hunting, but that didn't mean they shouldn't stay in shape.

A few days after the initial decision to stop escaping, the brothers were in the gym together, Sam running on the treadmill while Dean lifted weights. They hadn't worked out in an actual gym facility in a long time. Sam wasn't sure it had happened since he was at school, and Dean couldn't actually remember the last time he'd been in any kind of work out facility, with the exception of a weird salt and burn hunt he'd gone on a few months before he'd picked up Sam from Stanford. 

It may not have been familiar, but it was much appreciated. They needed a way to get their energy out, although that was more true of Dean, given that he wasn't able to work on any escape plans at the moment. He set the weights down, resting against the bench and stretching for a moment. "This is pretty sweet," he commented, glancing around at all the options.

Sam nodded his agreement, not stopping his run. "I missed running," he commented, the words only a little breathy from the exertion.

Dean rolled his eyes at that. The older Winchester could lift weights, spar, and do any kind of hunting training for hours if need be, but he hated running, especially for fun. He could see Sam smirking at him, probably knowing exactly what he was thinking.

"I wonder what else is in this place that we just haven't found yet," Dean mused, trying to create a general floor plan in his head of the mansion based on where he'd been so far. There was still too much he didn't know.

"I know, finding stuff like this makes me curious," Sam agreed, following his sentence with a long drink of water from the bottle he had balanced in the treadmill's cup holder.

Dean was about to reply when Castiel appeared, startling Sam so badly that he only just managed to avoid stumbling off the treadmill. He turned the speed down to a walk in response, shaking his head at himself.

"Hey, Cas," Dean called out casually, smirking at his brother's shock.

Sam raised an eyebrow at the older Winchester and mouthed back at him, "Cas?" behind the angel's back. He grinned when Dean flushed and shot him a scowl.

"I am glad you are making use of these rooms," Castiel observed, talking mostly to Dean. "This was a recently addition Gabriel and I put together for you."

"Seriously?" Sam asked. He had wondered why the angels had bothered to add a pool and gym to the mansion in the first place. He could understand a pool, knowing Gabriel, but it wasn't like either of the angels had any need of a gym. It did seem perfectly tailored to the stranded hunters.

"We want you to be comfortable," Castiel said, turning to direct that statement to Sam. His earnestness was believable, and Sam found himself smiling gratefully.

"Your idea or Gabriel's?" Dean asked, raising an eyebrow. 

Castiel tilted his head slightly, considering. "I was concerned that you might be feeling aimless without your usual destructive outlets," he explained, sounding unconcerned. "I wanted to add something to the house that was beneficial to you, so you would not be dissatisfied with the time you spend here. I suggested something to utilize your excess energy. This work out room was the solution Gabriel offered. The pool was his idea."

"Thanks, dude," Dean replied with a grin, sliding off the weight rack he'd been using and holding up his hand for a high five. When the angel simply stared blankly in response, Dean rolled his eyes and reached forward, grabbing Castiel's hand and slapping it against his own. The angel offered no resistance, but looked completely confused. "It's called a high five," Dean explained, shaking his head at how sad it was to encounter someone that didn't know what a high five was.

"I see." Castiel considered the incident briefly, then held up both hands, his expression very serious.

Dean eyed the angel speculatively, raising his own hands and moving them forward along with Castiel when the angel's intent became clear. "And that was...?" Dean prompted, looking amused.

"High ten," Castiel replied solemnly, looking pleased with himself.

Sam choked down a laugh, stopping the treadmill and stepping off. "I'm going to go take a quick swim," he told Dean, then hurried out of the room. Whatever Dean and Castiel were when they were together, he didn't quite know yet, but he also didn't want to be in the room when they figured it out. They could use some alone time, and Dean actually liked spending time with Castiel, so Sam was more than willing to encourage the budding friendship.

Stripping off the tank top he'd been running in, Sam dropped the sweaty article of clothing into a hamper, knowing it would inexplicably be clean and back with his things the next time he made it up to his bedroom. He wasn't sure if the hamper itself had special powers, or if one of the angels was just using their powers whenever they thought it was needed, but he didn't mind not having to do laundry, so he wasn't going to examine it too closely.

The shorts Sam had thrown on to work out were perfectly acceptable for swimming, so Sam worked his way out of the boxer briefs he had on underneath, leaving the workout shorts in place, and dumping the underwear into the hamper as well. Turning to the deep end, he prepared to dive.

Sam was in midair when he heard Gabriel say, "Commando, huh, kiddo? I like it!"

Hitting the water while still surprised, it took Sam a second to re-calibrate and break the surface, spitting out water and shaking his head to slick his hair out of his face. "What the hell, man? You startled me!" Sam complained.

"I thought you were getting used to me popping in and out of rooms?" Gabriel teased, waggling his eyebrows.

Sam scowled. "Don't use my own words against me," he protested. "You don't usually appear behind me when I'm about to dive into a pool, so forgive me if you caught me off guard." He rolled his eyes and dipped his head back, getting his hair fully wet and then sliding his hands through it until the tangles from his initial dive were gone.

"It's forgiven," Gabriel commented, grinning when Sam scowled at him again. "You really should get a hair tie or something," he pointed out, motioning towards Sam's hair. "It would make more sense for swimming, trust me. Here --" Gabriel snapped his fingers, then smiled broadly at his handiwork. "Oh, that's adorable!"

Sam reached up and felt the ponytail Gabriel had given him and turned to give the archangel a glare. He tried to pull off the elastic, but it wouldn't move. That was Gabriel's fault, if the smug grin was anything to go by. "Change it back, Gabriel," Sam warned. When the archangel just snorted, Sam continued, "I mean it. Dean's just in the other room, but if he sees me with my hair up I'll literally never live it down. Get rid of the damn hair tie."

Gabriel pursed his lips like he was thinking about it, then rolled his eyes and waved his fingers, letting Sam's hair fall back into place. "So I guess french braiding is a no-no too?" He asked, his tone overly morose.

Sam decided that Gabriel really didn't need to know that he had a thing for having his hair played with, so he shook his head adamantly. "Anything that my brother can take photographic proof of to make fun of me for the rest of time is off limits," he commented dryly.

Gabriel sighed heavily, then gestured to the pool. "Aren't you going to swim?" He looked pointedly towards where Sam was absently treading water. The deep end was really only about eight feet, but it still wasn't tall enough to stand in, so Sam was making small strokes to stay afloat.

"I'll get to it," Sam replied, smiling slightly. "Thanks, by the way. Castiel said the pool was your idea." 

"No problem," Gabriel dismissed. "I had a feeling you enjoyed swimming," the archangel added with a wink.

The idea that Gabriel had specifically added a pool specifically for Sam's benefit reminded him instantly of the archangel's promise to woo the hunter. Somehow, the thought didn't bother him as much as he expected. Raising an eyebrow at Gabriel, Sam asked, "How did you even know I liked to swim?" Their father had taught Dean how to swim years ago, though at the time it was for safety reasons, not fun. Dean had taught Sam, and the experience had been more focused on enjoying themselves than any real safety concerns. As far as Sam knew, Dean only swam a handful of times throughout their youth, always with Sam or with friends, except for the very few occasions the skill saved his life on a hunt. Sam had actually taken full advantage of the pool at Stanford as a way to keep in shape when he wasn't chasing monsters on a weekly basis.

Gabriel shrugged. "Just a hunch. Dean-o's more the fighting fit type, hence my recommendation that Castiel give him a weight room. You're more of the smart fit type, so it made sense you'd be a swimmer, and probably a runner."

"I was on the treadmill before I came in here," Sam admitted. "Good call, on both fronts. Dean needed to blow off steam, and I like having something to do with myself when I'm not studying."

"I'm always happy to offer you a diversion," Gabriel offered, waggling his eyebrows lasciviously. 

Sam actually laughed out loud, amused at the flirting this time, now that he wasn't shocked by it. "I'm sure you are," he replied. "I'll let you know if I ever decide to take you up on that."

Gabriel's eyes sparkled with promise, and he nodded. "I'll hold you to that," he warned, but his tone was light.

Sam took advantage of the natural lull in conversation to start a lap, hitting the end of the pool, which was right about five feet deep, then coming back towards the deeper end where Gabriel was sitting. Pausing when he finished, he asked, "So, what, you're just going to watch me swim?"

Gabriel ogled the hunter's bare chest openly, then looked up to smirk at him. "Like it's such a hardship," he deadpanned. His expression was appreciative, but not in a leering or creepy kind of way. It was actually kind of nice, and Sam had to mentally shake the thought away in order to refocus.

Sam snorted with amusement and shook his head. "Suit yourself." Before he could get pulled into anything else, he went back to swimming. That, at least, was relaxing. If he didn't stop, then he wouldn't have to examine exactly how it made him feel that Gabriel enjoyed him and his body quite so much. Being entertained by the flirting was one thing, but Sam wasn't sure he was ready to deal with anything else in this bizarre situation.


	8. Chapter 8

With Gabriel's mojo delivering whatever food they wanted whenever they wanted it, neither Winchester had really given eating much thought. It was so easy and instant to just mentioned to Gabriel that they were hungry that it had stopped being a concern at all. Neither angel needed to eat, but Gabriel often indulged. It was rare for the archangel to not have some immensely surgery food item with him, and he always joined Sam for meals, regardless of whether or not Dean was present. Castiel joined them as well, but usually only if they were eating with Dean. Otherwise, he left Sam and Gabriel to their own devices.

Just because Dean hadn't really given his food much thought since getting trapped on the island didn't mean he wasn't completely blown away when he discovered the kitchen in the mansion. Wolf whisteling as he walked in, Dean did a three hundred and sixty degree turn to try to take the whole thing in. "Whoa," he murmured, running a hand over a pristine stainless steel counter top. Dean was a master of making do - always had been. No matter what was in the fridge, or how much money was left, he'd always made sure Sam had something to eat that didn't taste like ass. Now that they were adults, Dean was still good at keeping them fed, and not always just on whatever diner food was convenient. He liked cooking. It was relaxing, and the closest thing to a creative outlet he had. Plus, Sam had admitted while more than a little drunk that Dean's mac and cheese was better than anything the cafeteria at Stanford served. Dean didn't admit it to Sam, but the comment definitely made him preen a little bit.

It was just about lunch time, if Dean's inner clock was more or less right, so he decided to do a little exploring. The massive fridge in the corner of the kitchen turned out to be fully stocked, although Dean couldn't think of any good reason for that. Everything seemed fresh, too, which didn't really make sense. The pantry was similarly stocked. Almost unconsciously, Dean started pulling out ingredients, deciding the ignore the fact that literally everything he needed was readily available. Everything was weird in the mansion, and he'd long since joined Sam's go-with-the-flow attitude about the angels and their weird-ass island mansion.

The kitchen had some sort of bizarre built in grill thing with a ventilation system that seemed to connect to the outside somehow. Dean examined it for awhile before giving up and deciding to just use it. The odds that he was going to damage the mansion by using the grill were pretty slim, and he knew Gabriel and Castiel were more than capable of preventing any fire damage if he somehow blew the thing up. Tossing all the ingredients he'd picked out onto the counter, he grabbed the beef and went hunting for a mixing bowl.

"Dean?" Castiel's voice came from behind him, causing Dean to startle, narrowly avoiding hitting his head on the top of the cabinet he was rummaging through.

Managing to keep from swearing in surprise, Dean set the beef down on the counter and turned to raise an eyebrow at Castiel. "Hey, Cas. Long time, no stalk." He'd actually seen the angel just a few hours ago, but that was still a pretty long gap of time the way Castiel seemed to follow him around. Dean couldn't really bring himself to mind all the much though.

Castiel's brow furrowed, and he looked as though he was going to ask about the comment, but shook his head lightly before speaking and turned to look at the mess Dean was in the process of making. "What are you doing?" He asked.

"Looking for a mixing bowl," Dean replied, knowing full well that wasn't what Castiel was asking. "To make burgers," he added as an afterthought.

Castiel, if possible, looked even more confused. "Why? You know that Gabriel and I are both capable of providing you with sustenance when you require it."

Dean waved him off. "It's not about that, dude. First, I don't care how fancy your angel replicator is, nothing beats a homemade burger. Second, I'm not like dying of hunger and desperate for food - this is for fun. Last, or third, whatever, I actually like cooking, and I've never had access to a kitchen like this."

Castiel considered that, then nodded, seeming to come to some kind of understanding. "Very well. May I join you? I confess, I have never actually watched food prepared in such a way. Gabriel in his hedonist days was more the type to indulge than to savor, so I cannot say I have ever had the opportunity to see how a meal it constructed. I am more curious than I would have expected."

Shrugging, Dean waved in the general direction of the counter space he was using. "Feel free. It's your house, dude. Speaking of which - mixing bowl, any idea?"

Castiel's blank expression clearly implied he hadn't any idea where kitchen tools of any kind might be found in the room, but he inclined his head, and when Dean turned to the counter, a bowl was sitting beside the beef waiting for him.

"That works," Dean replied easily. "Thanks, Cas." Leaning over to the sink for a second, Dean washed his hands quickly and thoroughly before shifting back over to the counter space he had taken up residence at. He emptied the meat into the bowl and started picking ingredients off the counter, dumping random amounts of spices into the meat.

Castiel watched in silence, seeming mesmerized by the activity. He seemed particularly preoccupied with Dean's hands, following them with his eyes as Dean moved back and forth, pausing every few moments to stick his hands into the mixture and knead the meat, working in all the ingredients.

After a few moments, Dean paused and gave Castiel a disparaging look. "Cas, it's cool if you want to watch me work, but you gotta talk to me, man. I can't do the silent staring thing - it's weird."

"My apologies," Castiel replied immediately. "I did not intend to make you uncomfortable."

"No, it's just..." Dean huffed, trying not to fumble his words. "Look, you don't make me uncomfortable, okay? I actually kind of like having you around, as weird as that might seem. Just, normally if people are hanging out, they talk, not sit in complete silence."

"I see." Castiel considered that for a moment. "Very well, are you feeling more well adjusted about your stay here?"

Dean snorted, shaking his head with amusement. "I guess you could say that. Sam's still determined to win that head start from Gabriel, and I trust his nerd skills, so I figure we'll get out of here eventually. In the meantime, you guys aren't like evil captors or anything, and it's not like we had something pressing going on back home, so I figure I might as well enjoy the vacation."

Nodding seriously, Castiel absorbed that for a moment before asking, "If you were back home, what would you be doing at this moment?"

Dean shrugged. "Probably driving, sleeping, or hunting, depending on what time it is there. My sense of time has been way screwed up ever since we washed up here. Sam and I usually drive all over the country following hunts, so we're always on the move. That's why this isn't actually half bad - we get to chill out and take a breath for once. I mean, we've been hunting for Dad ever since Jess died - that's Sam's girlfriend from school - and that was years ago. We know he's alive, but the bastard is too stubborn to actually let us find him. It's exhausting, so I figure it won't hurt if we're gone for awhile. Bobby's got the Impala now, and Sam and I will get back eventually."

"I am sorry to hear about Sam's girlfriend," Castiel said sincerely. "That must have been difficult."

Dean paused kneading the meat and looked up, nodding in response. "Yeah, it was pretty bad. I think he's a lot better now - like I said, it was a few years ago - but it was kind of like his whole life burned up, not just his girl. Like, she represented all this stability and future stuff too, and it up and burned right along with her. I was barely treading water trying to keep him from sinking in all that misery. It took us awhile to climb out of that pit of despair." Dean huffed and set the meat aside, rinsing his hands and grabbing a few varieties of cheese, spreading them out on the cutting board that had materialized as soon as he'd decided he wanted one.

"Sam is blessed to have you," Castiel commented.

Dean shook his head before Castiel even finished speaking. "We're a team," he corrected. "If anything, I'm lucky to have him. Sam's like my rudder or something. Without him, I don't really  _go_ anywhere. I hunt, I sleep, I eat, occasionally I get laid, but it's like I don't have a guidance system switched on. If Sam's blessed or whatever because I held him afloat when he needed it, then I'm damn lucky I've got him, because that kid's been the reason I've stayed afloat my whole freaking life." At Castiel's concerned look, Dean shook his head and again and waved him off. "Not like I'm suicidal or anything," Dean clarified. "It's just, all this hunting stuff is hard, and things weren't always easy with Dad and everything. Pretty much every damn thing I did growing up was based around the singular goal of keeping Sam safe and reasonably happy. I was sometimes a dick about it, and we didn't always get along, but I couldn't go do something really stupid and reckless because I had to be there for Sam. So, yeah, we're a team, and we're both still breathing, so I'd say we're pretty good at it."

Castiel looked contemplative for a moment before responding. "Then I suppose you are both blessed to have the bond you share. I believe Gabriel's attempts to protect me were similarly motivated. He still carries significant guilt over the fact that I was forced to run from Heaven alongside him, although I do not regret it."

"You gotta do what ya gotta do for family," Dean agreed. "I can kind of see Gabriel's viewpoint, I guess. I still think he's an ass. You're much better company."

Castiel seemed to brighten considerably at the words. "I appreciate that, Dean. I am quite fond of your company as well."

Dean shuffled a little bit, but smiling softly to himself. Redirecting his attention at the cheese balls and meat mixture in front of him, he made a thoughtful noise. "How many of these should I make?" He asked aloud, mentally tallying how many burgers he could get out of the meat.

"Are you not the only one eating?" Castiel asked, seeming confused.

"You have to eat," Dean ordered, giving Castiel a mild glare. "I'm making these from scratch, so you better at least try one. Gabriel will eat anything, but I should check if he wants one. Sam too, and he actually needs to eat, so. Hang on, I'll ask them. If not I'll throw everything back in the fridge. Knowing this place, it'll all keep for ages." Dean strode over to the science fiction style paneling on the wall and asked, "Computer, contact Gabriel."

"Ah, the disembodied voice of Dean Winchester!" Gabriel's response greeted him. "What's up? I see you found the kitchen."

Dean rolled his eyes. "I'm making burgers, short stop. You want one?"

"Is it poisoned?" Gabriel asked, his tone clearly amused.

"Not yet," Dean replied with a barely repressed smirk.

"Then sure!" Gabriel agreed, a tone sounding to indicate the connection was gone.

"Computer, contact Sam Winchester," Dean continued, not missing a beat.

"Ah, dammit!"

Dean huffed a laugh. "Nice to talk to you too," he deadpanned.

"Sorry," Sam grunted. "You startled me. What's up?"

"I'm making burgers - you want one?" Dean glanced over at his supplies again. Yeah, there was plenty for four people. Maybe even for seconds.

"You're cooking?" Sam asked, sounding surprised.

"There's a pretty epic kitchen here," Dean admitted, glancing around again. "I decided I might as well make use of it."

"Hell yes I want one of your burgers," Sam enthused. "Just give me a time frame so I know when I have to put the books down."

"I still gotta grill 'em and serve 'em up," Dean informed him. "I have no idea where this room is relative to the library though, so you'll have to call Gabriel if you get lost."

Sam snorted. "Fair enough. See you later, Chef Winchester."

Dean terminated the connection and snorted, rolling his eyes. At Castiel's quizzical look, he said, "Burgers aren't that hard. This isn't exactly gourmet cuisine."

"I will not know until I experience it," Castiel began, "but knowing what I know about you, I suspect that you are significantly undervaluing your cooking."

Dean felt himself flush at the comment, and he huffed and shrugged to cover it up. "Yeah, well," he replied lamely. "Let me get these on the grill, then we can see if they're any good." He switched the large grill on, messing with the settings until he was happy.

"They will be," Castiel said with such confidence that Dean didn't see the point in arguing with him.


	9. Chapter 9

Even thought he hadn't made any real progress so far, Sam was still spending a large chunk of time in the library. He'd also been spending plenty of time playing games, watching movies, and all manner of other activities with his brother and the angels. Several weeks had gone by already, and both Winchesters had managed to admit to each other that they weren't even sure they wanted to leave anymore. Of course they wanted to be able to see Bobby, retrieve the Impala, and find their father, but none of those things were pressing. Bobby would take good care of the Impala, and John Winchester was a grown ass man who'd been taking care of himself for the past few years without his sons around, so he really wasn't their responsibility. They both missed saving people, but there were other hunters in the world who would pick up the slack.

Gabriel had even given Sam a connection to the website he was using for his online classes so he could finish the courses. The library had more than enough information for Sam to complete all of his work, and the courses had expiration dates, not assignment deadlines, so he could work on them whenever he felt like it. As a result, he'd actually finished all the classes he'd been enrolled in when the Winchesters had been shipwrecked. He hadn't bothered to sign up for anymore just yet, electing instead to focus on the angel research. Somehow though, he didn't feel as motivated. He just didn't have a good enough reason to leave.

It was pretty normal at some point during the day for Gabriel to appear in the library to bother Sam, which had become less and less annoying the further their relationship, such as it was, progressed. Gabriel was taking his efforts to woo Sam very seriously, and there were now vases containing a myriad of oddly colored roses in various places around the library. None of the roses had wilted, and the electric blue ones still sat next to the chair in which Sam did all of his research, a place of honor as the first real gift Gabriel had given him.

Sam was rather enjoying being courted, not that he would ever admit it, and was finding himself more and more willing to tease Gabriel and respond in kind to the archangel's wit and snark with every passing day. Dean would probably think of it as Stockholm Syndrome, but Sam was pretty sure it was just a result of him getting to know Gabriel better. He actually liked the archangel, oddly enough, and they had definitely become friends. Sam had discovered that flirting with the archangel was hilariously rewarding, and he figured it wasn't long before he gave in and did something about it. In the meantime, it was highly rewarding to just let Gabriel gain a little bit of ground at a time. Dean was clearly not a fan of how close Sam and Gabriel had become, but the older Winchester couldn't really argue, since almost the exact same thing was happening between him and Castiel, whether Dean recognized it or not.

On this particular day, Sam was sprawled in his normal chair, reading a book that was not so much about angels as it was how angels had been portrayed throughout history. It was interesting, but not quite immersive enough to stop Sam from noticing the flutter of wings as Gabriel appeared in the room, just out of sight behind him.

"Hey, Gabe," Sam greeted without looking up. The nickname had come about by accident not very long after Dean had started calling Castiel 'Cas.' Gabriel had made a huge deal over it, crowing about how he'd been honored with a nickname, until Sam told him to shut up before he started calling the archangel Feather Pillow or something equally ridiculous.

Gabriel strode around Sam's chair, headed to the spot he usually settled into while he watched Sam read. "Whatchya got today, Sammykins?"

Long since past the point of fighting over the ridiculous pet names, Sam simply replied, "A Complete History Of Angel Symbolism In Art, Film, and Music."

"That's quite the mouthful," Gabriel observed, sounded bored.

"You wish," Sam replied easily, still refraining from looking up. The moment of shocked silence from Gabriel almost made him wish he'd looked up to see the expression on the archangel's face though.

"As if," Gabriel scoffed, in a clear attempt to pretend he'd never been caught off guard at all.

Finally looking up from his book, Sam marked his page and closed it, holding the giant tome in his lap. Grinning at the archangel, Sam said, "I don't know, you've made a pretty compelling case about what you want since I got here. I'd say I'm right on the money."

Sticking his tongue out at the hunter, Gabriel huffed at him before replying, "Please, I'm hardly a desperate adolescent. I sexually proposition all my supermodel guests!"

Snorting, Sam replied, "I'm sure Dean will be just crushed to hear you don't think he's a supermodel. I know he was really counting on your support on the catwalk."

There was a beat of silence before both hunter and archangel burst out laughing.

Taking a moment to get a hold of himself, Gabriel gasped out, "No, but can you imagine if I put him on a catwalk? That would be hilarious! Not to Cas - the look on his face would be priceless!" Dean's abbreviated name for the angel had caught on quickly, and Castiel got a pleased look on his face whenever he was addressed by the nickname.

"Don't you dare," Sam threatened without any venom. "Dean would kill you, and Cas might help if Dean asked him to."

Gabriel snorted in agreement. "I think those two have an unhealthy codependency," he confided in a stage whisper. "Someone should really do something about that."

"No meddling," Sam ordered, wagging a finger at the archangel. "They'll do something about whatever their deal is if they feel like it. They don't need any help from you."

Sighing dramatically, Gabriel nodded. "Fine, I'll leave the unbearable sexual tension alone." He clearly seemed amused by his own comment, which in fairness was definitely accurate. Dean and Castiel had a habit of staring meaningfully at each other with increasing frequency, which was both awkward and hilarious. 

Wincing, Sam shook his head. "Don't talk about it either, jeez. Those are our brothers. I do not want to think about them that way."

"You're really no fun," Gabriel informed him without any real venom, shrugging casually as he slouched in his chair.

Sam shrugged. "I guess you have to catch me in the right mood." He raised an eyebrow at Gabriel slowly, grinning when the archangel's eyes widened in surprise.

"That must be the difference between us," Gabriel decided, looking pleased with himself. "I'm always in the mood."

"Oh believe me, I've noticed," Sam snorted, not sounded nearly as annoyed about it as he might have a few weeks before.

"Yeah?" Gabriel waggled his eyebrows at the hunter. "You ever going to do anything about it?"

Sam gave him a speculative look before standing with one fluid motion and moving over to stand over the archangel, planting on hand on either arm of the chair and looking down at him with a smirk. "Are you all talk or is there something real under there?" He mused, raising an eyebrow. He knew Gabriel well enough by now to know that the archangel was a lot more than what he revealed on the surface, but it didn't hurt to tease him a little.

Gabriel swallowed audibly, looking up at Sam in surprise. "I guess you'll just have to find out for yourself," He snarked, probably going for clever but landing on cheesy instead.

Giving the archangel a heated look for a moment, Sam swooped in without warning and kissed him, pushing forward and deepening the kiss with a groan, ignoring the shock clear from Gabriel's startled reaction. Pulling back almost as quickly, Sam grinned at the archangel before standing up straight. "I guess I will." Striding out of the room, Sam started whistling to himself, repressing a chuckle until he was out of earshot.

Gabriel continued staring after the hunter for a solid minute before a broad grin spread across his face. "Oh  _hell_ yes!" He exclaimed, jumping to his feet and doing a split second victory dance. If Sam thought he was turning the game around on Gabriel, then the hunter had forgotten who he was dealing with. Gabriel was the one wooing Sam, and he was not about to pass up that very clear invitation he'd been given to proceed. Sometimes, patience paid off.

* * *

 

Bobby Singer glared half-heartedly at Vincent Mason, the man he'd just finished interviewing. It had taken him several days to workout what case Sam and Dean had been on last before they apparently went missing, and he had already been frustrated by the time he'd shown up to interview the passengers of the once haunted yacht. It certainly didn't help that the passengers were convinced that they'd been victimized by, as one of the women had put it, two super hot serial killers. Bobby was pretty sure Dean would get a kick out of that, but Bobby had just found the assertion that the Winchester boys meant any harm to be offensive.

"They saved your life and you abandoned them to the middle of the ocean," Bobby growled at his last remaining interview. "I hope for your sake they're still alive, or you and I are going to have trouble." Walking out and slamming the door behind him, Bobby didn't hear if Vincent had a reply. So far all he'd discovered was that the boys he treated like his own had been set adrift in a life raft. He knew from his own research that there had been a wicked storm that day, and he hadn't heard anything from the boys except the magically appearing note and Impala a few weeks before. Obviously that meant they were alive, but where they were was a whole other matter.

If Bobby didn't know better he'd be inclined to wonder if they'd been magicked off to the last city of Atlantis or some such nonsense, but there had to be a more plausible explanation. Somehow, the boys had survived, and somehow they'd gotten themselves connected to some kind of power that could transport cars halfway across the country. That was more than enough reason to be concerned.

Vincent ran out of his after Bobby, looking simultaneously angry and concerned. "Look, I don't know who you people are, but you and your friend need to leave all of us the hell alone! Your friends attacked us, and if I get one more freaking person coming into my home and accusing me of some crime, I'm going to have you all arrested for trespassing!"

Bobby whirled around, approaching Vincent with speed and clearly startling the man. "Who else was here? Who asked about them?" He demanded, ferocity in his tone and leaving no room for doubt of his sincerity. 

Stepping back as if afraid the gruff old hunter might hit him, Vincent blurted out, "I don't know, some other man! Tall, dark hair, angry at the world, really rude, and smelled like whiskey. Just, take your issues and leave me and my friends alone! We have no part in this!"

Growling at him once more, Bobby turned away and walked off, electing not to turn it into a fight. He shouldn't have been surprised, but knowing that John Winchester was hunting for his sons was a little shocking to say the least. The man had been missing for years, despite no small amount of urgent searching by his sons. Well, Bobby wasn't going to let him off so easily now that he had a lead on him. Bobby would find John, and then they'd look for Sam and Dean together. The boys may have been missing, but Bobby wasn't about to let them down by abandoning a lead on John. They'd kick his ass if they knew, so he was going to do his best to do right by them. Bobby would find Sam and Dean, and when he did, he'd have their father for them.


	10. Chapter 10

Sam probably could have predicted that the immediate consequence of kissing Gabriel would have been the archangel stepping up how elaborate his courtship of the hunter was. He could have, but he hadn't, so waking up to a bedroom covered in rose petals two days after the kiss had been a little bit of a shock. Also, I'm Amazed By You by Tim McGraw was now apparently playing whenever Sam walked into a new room, although by trial and error Sam had figured out that blowing a kiss at the ceiling would make it stop. He wasn't looking forward to having to do that in front of Dean, but he hadn't been able to find Gabriel to make him stop.

Various gifts started appearing too, everything from an illustrated leather bound volume of The Lord of the Rings to a brand new duffel bag, which Sam was fairly certain was bullet proof. Various colors of rose bouquets were still appearing as well, and Sam wondered if he was eventually going to run out of room in the library for them.

Sam wasn't able to find Gabriel until lunch time, when Sam sternly informed the ceiling that he wasn't going to eat unless Gabriel came and talked to him.

"Hey, Samsquatch," Gabriel greeted him, appearing without fanfare directly across from Sam in the dining room.

"Everything else is cute," Sam admitted, "but you have to stop it with the Tim McGraw. That's getting really old, really fast."

Gabriel pouted at him. "But  _I'm Amazed By You_ ," he teased, not bothering to hide his grin.

"It's sweet," Sam allowed. "It's also really freaking annoying. Please make it stop, Gabe."

Gabriel gave him a considering look. "What's in it for me?"

Sam shrugged. "You can take me on a date." He was tired of pretending he wasn't attracted to Gabriel, and he didn't have a good reason not to let the archangel woo him. He liked the guy, enough that the idea of being trapped on the island for the foreseeable future was no longer a concerning thought. He still intended to earn that head start, but the idea of never being able to see Gabriel or Castiel again was far less appealing than the idea of returning home.

His head snapping up, Gabriel stared at Sam for a moment in silence. "Seriously?" He finally asked.

"Seriously," Sam replied, grinning. "If you play your cards right, you might even get lucky." Not that Sam had any experience in the bedroom with another man, but he'd been curious. Trying something like that out for the first time with an archangel seemed like the best case scenario. He might have tried in college if he hadn't been so caught up in Jess so early on, but he was glad he hadn't if it meant he and Gabriel could share that. Of course, he kept all of that introspection to himself. That was just too much ammunition to give a master of mischief like Gabriel.

"What the hell?" Came Dean's voice from behind Sam.

Sam winced, and turned around to see his brother looking completely horrified. "Hey," he offered, already knowing this was going to be an awkward conversation."

"No, seriously, Sam, what the hell?" Dean glared at Gabriel, as if the allusion to sex had come from the archangel rather than the youngest Winchester.

Sam gnawed at his lip for a second before making a decision. "No, you know what? You don't get to but in here. Gabe and I were talking, and you interrupted. This is none of your business. Go hang out with Cas or something. I'll catch up with you later."

Dean's face turned an interesting shade of red, and several random syllables sputtered out of his lips before he managed to form real words. "You're...flirting!...with him...god, Sam, what are you thinking?!"

"I'm thinking that I like Gabe, he likes me, and I'm interested in exploring that," Sam told him succinctly. "I'm also thinking that you don't need a play by play, and I don't need an audience. Go. Away." Normally he might have tried to make peace with Dean, but he didn't expect his brother to settle down for awhile yet, and Sam didn't want to have an argument. "We can talk about it later."

Figuring Dean wasn't planning to leave it alone, Gabriel reached forward and grabbed Sam's arm, flying them both to the other side of the house, leaving Dean alone in the dining room, still expressing outrage in every thought and facial tick.

After it became clear that Sam wasn't coming back anytime soon, Dean glanced upwards and bellowed, "CAS! Get over here!"

Castiel appeared in front of him instantly, concern clear on his face. "What is the matter?" He asked urgently, looking as if he was about to strip Dean in search of wounds.

"Gabriel wants to bone Sam!" Dean exploded, conveniently ignoring the fact that Sam had been the one to suggest any sexual activity.

"I know," Castiel replied, blinking. "Is that a problem?"

"Of course it's a damn problem!" Dean retorted, pausing after the first of Castiel's replies caught up with him. "Wait, what do you mean you knew?"

"Gabriel has been anything but subtle when it comes  to his attraction to and interest in your brother," Castiel informed him. "I assumed you had noticed."

"I haven't spent much time around them together," Dean admitted. He was calming down slightly, but he was still pissed off. "Since when is Sam playing for the other team though? And why didn't he tell me he was interested in Gabriel?"

"Perhaps the outburst of rage was anticipated," Castiel said pointedly.

Dean had the presence of mind to look chagrined. "Okay, fair point."

"Why is it such a problem if our brothers want to pursue a relationship with each other?" Castiel asked, looking both confused and a little disappointed.

Dean hemmed and hawed for a moment before finally saying, "Look, I just don't want Sam to get hurt again. All Gabriel does is screw around, and Sam's had a crappy time when it comes to love. Getting involved in an asshole that's just going to crush his heart when he's done playing with it isn't good for him."

Castiel looked insulted on Gabriel's behalf. "My brother genuinely cares for Sam," Castiel informed Dean sternly. "While Gabriel is frequently one to joke and dismiss matters of a serious nature, he has never been anything but protective of me, and has shown very little emotional attachment to anyone in longer than I can remember. The way he is behaving with Sam is special, and I believe he will not do anything to harm him."

"You don't think he'll take advantage of him?" Dean challenged, still sounding worried.

Castiel rolled his eyes, a trait he had absolutely learned from Dean. "Gabriel has been celibate since we discovered Heaven was coming for us. He swore off the elements of his hedonistic phase because of what he felt it had done to me. He decided to eschew behavior that could harm others, and rejected the selfish behaviors he used to enjoy. He will not harm Sam."

"What makes you so sure though?" Dean asked, even as his tone softened considerably.

"Do not tell him I told you," Castiel said sternly, leveling a glare at Dean until the hunter nodded his understanding. "The only times Gabriel has left this island since we came here have been to assist Sam when he has prayed. The fact that you two washed up on our shores is something of an answer to Gabriel's own prayers."

Dean looked shocked by that, and it took him a moment to absorb what Castiel was telling him. "So you think Gabriel's been attached to Sam since he was a kid?" Dean asked, making a face.

"Gabriel has cared about Sam's well being at least that long," Castiel corrected. "Everything that has developed during your time here is unsurprising given Gabriel's heart."

"Huh." Dean considered that and finally nodded. "Okay, I'll leave them alone. If Gabriel does anything to mess with Sam though, I'm coming for him."

"As Gabriel is my brother, I suppose I should say the same to you," Castiel replied, leveling an appraising look at the hunter.

Dean blinked at him for a second before laughing. "Fair enough." Shuffling a little Dean finally huffed and said, "Look, I need to get my mind off of this. Can we do something?"

"Such as?" Castiel asked, looking eager.

Dean gave him an appraising look. "Do you know how to swim?"

Castiel blinked at him. "I do not know."

Grinning, Dean stepped forward so Castiel could grip his shoulder for flying. "Then get us to the pool, Cas. Everyone should know how to swim!"

Wary but willing, Castiel obliged by gripping Dean's shoulder, transporting them to the pool.

* * *

 

Sam ate another grape, raising an eyebrow at Gabriel. "So?" He asked. "What's happening down there?" Gabriel had taken them into one of the heavily decorated but apparently unused rooms upstairs and provided Sam with a picnic that the hunter was immensely enjoying.

"Cas talked him down and now they're at the pool," Gabriel summarized, looking amused. "Dean's got my brother wrapped around his finger - does he realize that?"

"I doubt it," Sam said with a laugh. "It'll be fun to see how long it takes the two of them to figure it out."

"My money's on Cas making the first move," Gabriel said smugly.

"No way!" Sam countered. "Does Cas even know how to make a first move?"

Gabriel hesitated. "Okay, you've got a point. How about this, then - my money's on Cas figuring out what he wants first."

"That I'll believe," Sam agreed. "Dean can be pretty oblivious when he wants to be."

"How are you planning on explaining this to him?" Gabriel asked, gesturing between himself and Sam.

Sam shrugged. "Hell if I know. This is about us though, not him. Besides, if I know Dean he's more worried than he is angry."

"That's fair," Gabriel allowed. "Still, it's not like I plan to tie you up in my secret sex dungeon and never let you out."

Sam raised an eyebrow. "Do you have one of those?"

There was a pregnant pause before Gabriel replied with, "...maybe."

Laughing, Sam snatched another grape. "Well, it couldn't hurt to check it out sometime," he said, popping the grape into his mouth and only barely avoiding choking on it when he saw the look on Gabriel's face.

"You're just full of surprises, aren't you, kiddo?" Gabriel huffed at him, looking amused.

"Let's save the secret sex dungeon for a future date," Sam suggested. "I think we have to know each other a little better for that to be a good idea."

"Smart," Gabriel agreed. "In the meantime, we can discuss the rest of our deepest darkest secrets. I'm dying to know more. I definitely wouldn't have pegged you for the kinky type."

Sam rolled his eyes. "Let's do twenty questions on the next date," he said, reaching for his beer.

"So what do you want to do now?" Gabriel asked, waggling his eyebrows lasciviously. 

Sam thought about it for a moment before replying. "Any chance you've got a laser tag course anywhere in this mansion?"

Gabriel's eyes lit up. "I'm so gunna kick your ass!" He declared. There was a reasonably empty wing of the house he could turn into a laser tag course with just a snap of his fingers, and just imagining Sam in his element, grunting with exertion and covered in sweat was enough to completely divert his attention.

Sam grinned broadly shaking his head. "You wish, Gabe. Prepare to kiss my ass." Sam hadn't played laser tag since college, but he had to be a master shot so he didn't get killed, so he didn't think winning was going to be a problem.

"As soon as we're done with laser tag," Gabriel promised earnestly, a broad grin on his face and mischief in his eyes.


	11. Chapter 11

Sam lay on a padded lawn chair on the roof of the mansion, his eyes closed as he basked in the sunlight. As far as he was aware, the island they were on wasn't really tropical, but that didn't stop Gabriel from being able to make it feel like Hawaii. That was how the new couple had found themselves sunbathing on the roof in the first place, a moment of relaxation Sam was enjoying immensely. Of course, knowing Gabriel, the moment of silence couldn't last.

"So," Gabriel announced almost as if he'd been listening to Sam's thoughts, "when do we get to the hot sex part of the date?"

Opening one eye and turning his head slightly to squint at Gabriel, Sam asked, "You expect me to put out on the first date?" His tone was light and amused, with no real heat to it.

Gabriel made a pouting face. "Surely the past few weeks counted as foreplay," he offered as a counter argument. 

Sam snorted. "You're not wrong," he acknowledged. "Still, I'm pretty sure third date is the going rule."

"You assume I play by humanity's rules," Gabriel pointed out, leering at the hunter.

Opening both eyes to give Gabriel and amused look, Sam rolled over on the lawn chair and propped himself up on his elbows. "I'll make you a deal," he offered, waggling his eyebrows obnoxiously at the archangel. He knew Gabriel well enough to know that the archangel would never be able to resist anything like a challenge.

Gabriel narrowed his eyes at the hunter. "What kind of deal?" He asked with suspicion.

"I'll 'put out,'" Sam began with air quotes around the term, "when Dean and Cas admit they have feelings for each other and do something about it." Before Gabriel could comment, Sam added, "But! Neither of us are allowed to push them into it - they have to do it themselves."

Giving Sam a considering once over, Gabriel slowly nodded, a grin spreading across his face. "All right, I can make this work. Why pin our hypothetical sex life on what our brothers do though?"

Sam snorted. "It does sound weird when you say it like that, but I have a plan. You know our bet?"

"Sure," Gabriel replied easily. "I think Cas will make the first move, and you think Dean will."

"Whoever's right gets to top," Sam announced smugly.

Gabriel gaped at Sam for a minute, unable to close his mouth. "Oh you are so on," he declared, a broad grin on his face. "I taught Cas everything he knows."

"Trust me, Dean's got this in the bag," Sam dismissed easily. "Besides - no helping, remember? They need to figure it out for themselves."

"How about mild guidance?" Gabriel suggested with a smirk. "I'm great at mild guidance."

"Why do I get the feeling your version of mild guidance is about as subtle as getting hit upside the head with a frying pan?" Sam asked wryly, rolling his eyes when Gabriel looked completely unapologetic. "Fine, we can talk to them, but no pushing, and no manipulation. It has to be their idea."

"This is going to be fun," Gabriel decided, still grinning. "I'm going to own your ass, Samsquatch."

Sam laughed out loud, shaking his head to get the hair out of his face. "You don't know Dean as well as I do," he stated with confidence.

Gabriel shrugged. "We'll see. In the meantime, exactly how sexually frustrated are we allowed to make each other?"

Narrowing his eyes at the archangel, Sam asked warily, "...why?"

* * *

 

Dean ran a towel through his hair once and shook his head a little, running his hand through the slightly longish hairs to put them in some semblance of order. He usually cut his hair more frequently than this, so it was getting a little longer. He didn't hate it though, so he figured it could wait another day or two before he went for a hair trimmer.

Castiel, who apparently did know how to swim, despite not being aware of that knowledge before being pushed into the pool by Dean, was dry with merely a thought, and waiting in his customary outfit while Dean dried off and got re-dressed.

"So, swimming," Dean prompted. "Fun, right?"

"I imagine that the activity was more enjoyable because of the company," Castiel informed him, seeming unaware of the complimentary nature of the comment. "I do not think I would indulge in swimming were I alone."

Dean coughed and turned to grab his shirt off the bench behind him, shrugged. "Yeah, well." He didn't have a response to that, unsurprisingly. "What do we do now? I doubt we'll see our brothers for a while yet."

Castiel tipped his head to the side, his eyes going distant for a split second before he resumed his previous expression. "They are sunbathing on the roof," he informed the older Winchester. "For what purpose, I cannot say."

"As long as they aren't naked, I don't care," Dean informed him, raising a hand to stop the angel when his expression betrayed an intent to check. "No, no, I don't need to know."

"Very well," Castiel allowed. "What would you like to do?"

Dean paused, fully dressed again but with an expression of mild confusion. "No idea," he admitted. "I'm really not used to this much free time."

"If you had free time," Castiel prompted, "What would you do with it?"

"Usually go to a bar and shoot pool," Dean admitted. "It's a good source of income, depending on the bar."

It was clear that Castiel didn't understand that, but he didn't question it either. "There is a game room in the mansion," he informed Dean. "I believe we have a pool table, if you would like to play."

"Do you know how to play?" Dean asked, raising an eyebrow at the angel.

"I am certain I can learn," Castiel replied without missing a beat.

Dean ran a hand through his hair again, flicking away any remnants of moisture from the pool. "All right, fair enough. Lead the way, Cas." The hunter really ought to have predicted that Castiel's response to that instruction would have been to grip Dean's shoulder and fly them both to the game room, but he didn't, so Dean quickly found himself stumbling and taking deep breaths, trying to recalibrate.

"I apologize," Castiel offered, sounded truly regretful. "I forgot that your system does not handle flying well."

Dean held up a hand and waved it in Castiel's general direction, straightening and shaking his head, blinking a few times. "No, it's cool, I'm good. Sorry, you just surprised me. No worries, I'm fine. See? No vomit, no foul. Or whatever."

Castiel didn't look convinced, but followed Dean's lead as the hunter made a beeline for the pool table. "I have been in this room a few times with Gabriel," Castiel informed him, "but he always wins whatever game we play. Of course, he has to teach me to play first, which may be giving him the advantage."

"Oh yeah, definitely," Dean scoffed. "I'm sure your brother's a cheater. He seems the type. I'd know - I'm one too. Just not with my friends."

"Friends?" Castiel prompted, curious.

"Duh, Cas," Dean smacked the angel's shoulder as he passed by to grab two pool cues, weighing them for a second to get a feel for them. "We've been over this. Don't worry, I wouldn't take advantage of a pool virgin even if we weren't friends." He winked and tossed the second pool cue to the angel, who registered that he was meant to catch it in barely enough time to actually do so.

"Gabriel has never instructed me in this game," Castiel admitted.

"No worries, I've been playing pool since I was a kid," Dean said, not even bothering to disguise the pride in his tone. "I taught Sam how to play, and I even taught my Dad a few tricks, back in the day." A cloud passed over his face at the mention of his father, but it was gone quickly enough that Castiel elected not to address it.

"I am grateful to be under your experienced tutelage, then," Castiel said, giving Dean a respectful nod."

Huffing with amusement, Dean moved over to the table, nestling the cue in the crook of his arm while he rolled the balls into the shape he wanted, adjusting the plastic triangle holding them together with a few motions that spoke of many previous repetitions.

"What is the point of this game?" Castiel asked, looking at the balls curiously.

"For me? Usually to screw people over and make off with their cash," Dean replied easily. "Really though, it's just about getting the balls into the sockets in the right order so you earn points. People like to pretend it's a fancy sport for rich people, but you'll meet more truckers in a bar with boss pool skills than you ever will rich dudes. I can hustle anybody out of their cash playing pool. Anytime I've lost wasn't my fault, no matter what Sam says." Dean sniffed and twisted the balls into their final position, eyeing them carefully before moving the triangle.

"How do you hit the balls, then?" Castiel asked with genuine curiosity, watching Dean with the heavy gaze the hunter had grown used to.

"Here, we'll just do a practice run," Dean decided, moving to the other side of the table next to Castiel. "Don't worry about the rules, I'll just show you how to sink a ball." The older Winchester leaned his own pool cue against a pillar and moved closer to Castiel. "Here, pick up the cue and hold it horizontally." Once the angel had raised the cue, Dean adjusted his grip until he was satisfied. "There, that's close enough. Now we need to work on your stance."

Castiel listened as Dean instructed him, adjusting his pose until the hunter seemed pleased. "This seems complicated for a game with no purpose," he pointed out.

Dean laughed, shrugging. "It's easier the more you do it," he admitted. "You've got the hang of it though. Here, aim at the white ball and hit it with the stick."

Squinting at the pool ball in question, Castiel attempted to aim, but ended up thrusting the pool stick to the side of the ball, missing it entirely. "I missed," he announced, a look of mild frustration on his face.

Biting back a laugh, Dean waved it off. "Don't worry about it - that was just your first shot. C'mon, I'll help you this time." Hesitating only a second, Dean thanked whatever deity was watching over him that Sam wasn't here to see this and Castiel didn't know enough about the world to understand what he was doing. Lining himself up behind Castiel, Dean bent over the angel's form in a bizarre immitation of the classic couple playing pool pose, guiding the angel's hands with his own as they bent over the table together. Uncomfortably aware of his close his lips were to the angel's ear, Dean said quietly, "All right, now pull back, line up the shot, give it a few light pushes, make sure everything's perfect, and..." Dean trailed off as he helped Castiel make the shot, standing straight as the cue struck the white ball, sending it spinning across the table, against two of the sides, and sinking into one of the far pockets.

"We did it!" Castiel exclaimed, seeming thoroughly impressed. He turned to Dean, only to realize how close the hunter was. "Thank you for your assistance," Castiel offered, his voice quiet.

Dean cleared his throat and took a step back, running a hand through his hair and nodding. "Yeah, no, sure, of course. Pretty sure you've got the hang of it. Go ahead and try again, hit whatever ball you want." Tugging on the bottom of his shirt, Dean made a grunting noise and moved over to the other side of the table, snatching up his own pool cue as he went.

"Very well," Castiel allowed, replicating the pose from before and pointing his cue at a green ball. He struck it, and sent the ball spinning. This one didn't make it into a pocket, but Castiel seemed pleased regardless.

Dean grinned in spite of himself, nodding in response. "See? Told you you were getting the hang of it."

"I suppose I am," Castiel agreed, straightening and smiling slightly at Dean. "I must have an excellent teacher."

"Damn straight," Dean replied, tossing his own cue back and forth between his hands. "All right, let me line these balls up and we'll try it for real."

Castiel watched as Dean collected the pocketed white ball and began filling the plastic triangle again. He didn't expect to win this strange game, but that was fine. This, like swimming, was about the company, not the activity.


	12. Chapter 12

Dean was starting to get a little weirded out. Actually, he was well past weirded out. This morning was the fourth straight morning in a row that Sam had weirdly nosy about the time he was spending with Castiel. It was more than a little strange, and Sam always responded to any questioning of his curiosity with something vague and unhelpful.

"It's nothing, I'm just curious!" had been Sam's completely lackluster attempt to dissuade Dean's questions just a few moments ago. Dean had given up on him and gone to find Castiel, the only person in the house acting sane at the moment - and he wasn't even a person!

"Dean, are you all right?" Castiel asked, materializing directly in front of him as if on cue. They were in the hallway by the front door, which was usually the most direct way to the kitchen.

"Annoyed as hell, but yeah, I'm fine." Dean huffed.

"I find myself in sympathy with you then," Castiel admitted, allowing a look of irritation to cross his face, something Dean hadn't seen him express before. "Gabriel seems increasingly preoccupied with how you and I are choosing to spend our days."

Dean's head jerked up and he narrowed his eyes at Castiel. "Wait, Gabriel's harassing you about that too? What's gotten into them? Sam's been weird about it for the past few days, but won't tell me why."

"That is strange," Castiel agreed. "Perhaps something is going on that we are unaware of."

Dean moved to the front door, pulling it open and motioning for Castiel to follow him. "C'mon, let's do something outside today. If the psycho couple is stalking us or something, I don't want to make it easy on them."

"Why would Gabriel and Sam be interested in what we choose to do?" Castiel asked, sounding bewildered. "It is hardly their business."

"I can guess," Dean muttered, but he didn't elaborate. "Have you explored these woods much?"

"I cannot say that I have," Castiel admitted, allowing the change in topic. "I rarely leave the mansion."

Dean gave the angel a speculative look, before muttering an expletive under his breath and asking, "I can't believe I'm suggesting this, but how do you feel about hide and seek?"

"I am familiar with the concept," Castiel assured him. "I do not have any strong feelings about the game one way or the other."

"But you do know how to play?" Dean double checked.

Castiel nodded, his eyes narrowing when Dean grinned at him. "Why?" He asked, a little warily.

Dean shrugged. "Best way to explore the island. Sam and I did this whenever we stayed somewhere with woods. It's been awhile, but I'm pretty confident I'll win anyway. Count to one hundred, then come find me." Without waiting for confirmation, Dean took off into the forest.

Blinking after the hunter for a moment, Castiel sighed and began to count. Once he reached one hundred, he examined the woods for a moment, wondering how best to proceed. Tilting his head, he located Dean easily and flew to him, appearing beneath the tree the older Winchester had climbed, looking up at the man's precarious perch on a tree branch that probably wasn't meant to hold his wait. "Dean," Castiel called out.

Dean startled badly, clambering for support on the branch, but missing the grip he was aiming for and falling backwards towards the ground. "What the--whoa!" Dean hurtled towards the ground, flinching as he came to an abrupt stop.

Castiel glanced down at the hunter, who was now laying across his arms. "I do not believe hiding in the trees is wise," he commented, barely able to suppress the amusement Dean's expression was causing.

Clambering out of Castiel's arms, spluttering for a response, Dean finally managed to reply, "Yeah, well, flying to my location is cheating."

"Oh." Castiel considered that for a moment. "But is the point not to attempt to locate you as quickly as I am capable?"

"Well..." Dean deflated. "Yeah, I guess."

"Next time I will endeavor to do it the human way," Castiel promised, feeling rewarded when Dean grinned at him in response.

"That's the spirit!" Dean encouraged. "It's your turn now anyway. Go on, I'll count, you hide."

"Very well." Castiel vanished, leaving the hunter behind to count.

Dean counted out loud, not because he thought Castiel could still hear him, but more for the suspense of it. He felt a little silly playing hide and seek with an angel, but the nice thing about Castiel was that he didn't really have a frame of reference for if something was ridiculous or not. Sam, on the other hand, would never let him live it down if he found them doing this, so Dean made a mental note to remind Castiel not to tell either of their brothers.

Reaching one hundred, Dean started off into the woods, whistling to himself a melody that was probably Van Halen. He was starting to realize exactly how challenging it would be to find an angel with possibly limitless capabilities with an entire island of possible hiding places. He glanced up into the trees every few paces, just in case the angel was up in the branches, but he didn't really expect it to be that easy. After wandering around for about ten minutes or so, Dean realized he had made his way around to the back of the mansion. He glanced down to avoid tripping on a root, and looked up to see the flaps of Castiel's trenchcoat peeking out from either side of a large tree trunk directly ahead of him.

"Gee, I wonder where Cas could be," Dean commented dryly, rolling his eyes and smiling in amusement in spite of himself. 

Castiel's head appeared from around the side of the tree. "I am here, Dean."

Snorting, Dean moved over to the tree and leaned against it, smirking at his friend. "I know, Cas, I could see your coat. I was teasing."

"Oh." Castiel nodded as if in complete understanding. "How did I do?"

"Well, I had to walk a decent ways to find you," Dean allowed. "Not bad for a beginner." He held up a fist, rolling his eyes again when Castiel merely stared at it blankly. "Fist bump, dude."

Something akin to understanding flashed in his eyes, and Castiel lifted up his own fist and tapped Dean's extended fist, looking pleased with himself. At Dean's curious expression, Castiel explained, "I made an educated guess based on the name of the maneuver."

The corners of Dean's eyes crinkled with his grin, and he couldn't help but laugh, reaching out to pat Castiel on the shoulder. "You're learning fast. C'mon, your turn to count. No angel powers this time, got it?"

When Castiel nodded his assent and began to count, Dean took off into the woods.

* * *

 

Dean's concept of time was all screwed up from being on the island anyway, but when he realized the sun was starting to descend in the sky, he couldn't quite believe it. He was up in a tree again, waiting for Castiel to find him. The angel was uncommonly good at the game, even without powers, so Dean expected his location would be discovered shortly. He squinted at the sky, skeptical of the sun's apparent position. There was no way the two of them had been playing hide and seek all day. He hadn't even gotten hungry yet! Perhaps on cue, his stomach grumbled. Dean glanced down at his waist, raising an eyebrow. "Huh." Maybe they had been out all day. What was that dumb expression? Time flies when you're having fun. It had been a good long while since Dean had felt like that was a true statement, but apparently it was.

"Found you," Castiel called from below, sounding pleased.

Dean felt a little proud of himself that it had taken the angel almost one full extra minute to find him this time. "All right," he called back. "Coming down!" This was only the third time he'd hidden in a tree, but he'd only actually fallen the first time, and this tree had much sturdier branches, so Dean was able to lower himself more carefully. 

"Be careful," Castiel warned, his eyes narrowing with concern.

"I'm fine," Dean dismissed, hopping to the final branch. He crouched down, gripping it with both hands, and swung his body down, preparing to jump to the ground, which was barely a two foot drop. Just as he was preparing to let go, Dean let out a squawk of protest as his feet were firmly held and he was pulled down from the branch, lowered carefully to the ground, and released.

"Now you are fine," Castiel corrected, looking vaguely amused.

Dean huffed at him, but wasn't quite able to suppress his own smile. "I was perfectly capable of getting down by myself," he muttered, but without any real heat.

"True," Castiel allowed. "However, I was here, so there was no need for you to do it alone."

That statement struck Dean as more meaningful than just the unnecessary tree descending assistance, and he found himself unsure of exactly how to respond. He stared at the angel for a moment, rocked a little by the plain sincerity in Castiel's eyes. Almost without giving it any thought, Dean closed the short distance between them, reaching up to rest his hand on Castiel's cheek and bring the angel in for a kiss.

There was a moment of clear and obvious shock from Castiel before the angel responded eagerly, his own lips parting and his hands flailing a little at his sides, the angel unsure what exactly to do with them.

Dean's grip on Castiel firmed and he deepened the kiss, his right hand going to the angel's waist to pull him closer, capitalizing on the angel's obvious interest. They remained that way for a moment, kissing eagerly, if with mismatched experience.

Without warning, Dean jerked himself back, ripping his hands off of Castiel and starring at the angel with an expression that resembled horror, although Castiel didn't think that was quite right. Dean muttered a string of expletives under his breath, his breaths themselves heavy and uneven. He looked at Castiel for a moment like he was going to say something, then he turned and ran back in the direction of the mansion, leaving the angel alone, completely confused.

* * *

 

Bobby watched the large black pick up truck pull out of the motel parking lot and onto the road through his rearview mirror, snorting at the vehicle. "Course he'd have a pick up," the man muttered to himself. As soon as the vehicle was out of sight, Bobby pulled into the parking lot John Winchester had just vacated, circling to the back to park out of sight before walking back around to pick the lock to John Winchester's room.

Apparently the only easy way to track down a missing Winchester was to be on the same hunt that he was. Bobby wanted to feel smug that he'd been the one to finally track John down, but he'd had an advantage this time that the boys had been lacking, otherwise John would have been located a long time ago. Turning back to the door, Bobby adjusted the salt lines and other assorted safe guards to make sure nothing would tip John off that someone was in his room.

There were bags in the room, which confirmed Bobby's guess that John wasn't leaving just yet. He'd probably run off to do some investigating, which was just as well. Bobby could use all the help he could get. A tattered old notebook sat on the nightstand, and Bobby headed for that, figuring that John owed him an explanation for his disappearing act. The notebook was likely a replacement for the journal he'd left to the boys years before when he'd first vanished. 

Bobby must have been right, because the first page he opened to was a detailed explanation of a demonic possession case in New Mexico. The more Bobby flipped through the notebook, the more pages like that he found. It wasn't a hunter's journal, it was a treasure trove of notes about one thing and one thing only - demons. The consensus seemed to be clear, and Bobby couldn't say he was actually surprised. When he thought about it, it made sense that Mary Winchester had been killed by a demon. There had never really been enough evidence to prove that before, but it made more sense than anything else did. If Bobby was deciphering John's notes right, then the Winchester patriarch had known it was a demon for a long time. Maybe even before his disappearance. 

One hour, then two passed without incident as Bobby read through the notebook, pausing every so often to scribble down new information he wanted to look into himself, tucking notes into his pocket whenever that was the case. The rumble of an engine outside the door alerted Bobby to John's return, and he carefully put the notebook back where he found it, retreating to a corner of the motel room so he wouldn't scare John off before he had a chance to pin the man down to talk.

Bobby was anything but scared of John Winchester, but that didn't stop him from holding his breath as a key jerked in the lock and the doorknob began to twist.


	13. Chapter 13

John Winchester came to a halt inside his motel room, the door closed behind him and a heavy sigh on his lips. "Singer," he said.

Bobby moved forward into the light, giving John an appraising look. "Winchester," he replied.

Moving away from the door, John began to move about the room as if he was alone, packing certain items and rearranging others. "Something you need?"

"I could use a drink," Bobby allowed, appreciating the slight shift in John's shoulders that revealed that the answer had amused the other man. "Could also use an explanation as to where you've been for the last few years. Sure as hell wasn't with your kids, not for lack of trying on their part."

John finally turned to face Bobby, crossing his arms in front of him and leaning up against the chest of drawers. "What business is it of yours?"

Bobby snorted. "Right, like you have to ask. They may be your blood, but those boys are as much mine as they are yours. Maybe more, seeing as I'm the one doing his best to keep them alive these days."

Something dark flitted across John's face, but he didn't counter the accusation. "You here looking for them?" He asked.

"Course I am. Finding your dumb ass was just a bonus." Bobby huffed and scratched at his beard. "I figure the only reason I found you is because you figured out they were missing."

John nodded, picking up his cell phone and looking at it almost ruefully. "They stopped calling or texting," he explained. "I don't answer, but they're pretty consistent about it. I was getting one call every day, and a variety of texts. I assume the call was Sam, because the texts are all from Dean."

"I talk to them regularly," Bobby said pointedly. "I was getting concerned, but Dean's car showing up without explanation in the middle of my yard was a pretty big clue something was wrong."

John looked visibly shocked, which pleased Bobby a little. "The Impala appeared in your yard?" He repeated, bewildered by the very idea.

Bobby nodded. "Uh-huh. Had a note on it, saying the boys weren't reachable, and they wanted me to take care of the car while they couldn't. That was it."

"What the hell has the power to transport a car halfway across the country?" John demanded, pacing in the small space.

"Hell if I know," Bobby said with a shrug. "All I can figure so far is that the boys got set adrift after their last case, and one hell of a storm came up soon after. I know they ain't dead, or I wouldn't have a shiny hunk of Detroit metal on wheels sitting in front of my house."

John was still pacing. "So something has them," he concluded.

"The note made it sound like they were safe, at least," Bobby added. "I don't take anything for granted though, which is why I'm here. You made any progress?"

John scowled. "Nothing that's done me any good."

"So we pool resources and bring them home," Bobby decided, not giving John a choice in the matter. "This time, you stick around. No leaving your boys in the lurch again." He could see the anger brewing on John's face, but Bobby ignored him, turning instead to the notes he'd taken on the hunt that had led to the boys going missing. It was time to come up with a plan.

* * *

 

It took Sam two days to finally pin down his brother for long enough to force Dean to explain what was wrong. The older Winchester had been avoiding everyone, hiding out in whatever empty spaces of the mansion he could find, despite the fact that all one needed to find him was angelic powers or the computer system on the wall that Gabriel had given them. Any time Sam got close, Dean ran off, and he'd offered Gabriel some sort of creative threat that made the archangel disinterested in pursuing him. Castiel wasn't looking for him at all, which further cemented Sam's assumption that something had happened between the two of them.

"What the hell is going on with you?" Sam demanded, trapping Dean in a corner of some kind of lounge room with a massive roaring fireplace. "You've been antsy for days. What's wrong?"

"Nothing!" Dean snapped, scowling when Sam raised an eyebrow at him skeptically. "Why can't you all just leave me alone?"

"Nobody's been able to get close enough to talk to you for two whole days!" Sam reminded him, exasperated. "Enough already. Just tell me what happened."

Dean fidgeted for a moment, seemingly debating with himself over whether or not to share with his brother. "I don't want to," he groused, his expression what Sam would call sullen.

"So something did happen," Sam stated, nodding to himself. "C'mon. Let's sit down and talk. I know you're not big on having actual conversations, but I'm worried about you, and everyone can tell you're unhappy. Maybe we can fix it."

Irritated by Sam's insistence on talking, Dean reluctantly allowed himself to be pushed towards the lounge sofas. He sat down, relaxing a little into the comfortable pillows. "Look, I appreciate the thought, I guess, but I really don't want to talk about it," he said, trying to be a little more diplomatic.

"Why not?" Sam prompted, hoping to get at least a hint of what had happened to turn his brother into such a moping mess. It was unusual for Dean to sulk, especially for so long.

"You're gonna laugh," Dean muttered, looking distinctly put out.

Sam bit the inside of his cheek to keep from smiling. "Dude, if you're genuinely upset about something, I'm not going to laugh at you. Even if I think it's funny, I swear, I'll be helpful. I won't make fun of you. I just want to know what's wrong, that's it."

Dean examined Sam's face for a minute before sighing heavily and throwing his hands up. "All right, fine, but if you laugh at me, I'm kicking your ass."

"I'd expect nothing less," Sam promised, crossing his heart and putting on his best serious face. He was a little bewildered what Dean would be so reluctant to tell him.

"I kissed Cas," Dean blurted, looking horrified for a brief moment that he'd actually said the words, then settling his expression into something that looked like a challenge. His eyes practically dared Sam to try and make fun of him.

Sam blinked. Inwardly, he wanted to do a celebratory dance. He'd won the bet! He wondered what the best way to tell Gabriel would be. Outwardly, he kept his expression the same and nodded. "Okay, that explains the freakout."

"I'm not freaking out!" Dean protested automatically. At Sam's snort, he rolled his eyes and added, "All right, fine, I'm freaking out a little."

"So you kissed him first, right?" Sam double checked. Dean didn't need to know why it was important, but Sam needed to be sure.

"Yeah," Dean admitted. "He totally kissed me back though." He seemed a little proud of himself for a second before the perturbed expression was back.

Sam shrugged. "So what's the problem? Are you having a big gay freakout or something? I always assumed you were down for whatever." He'd never actually seen Dean with anyone other than a girl, but he knew his brother. Even if Dean didn't flaunt it, he was the type to enjoy whatever he wanted to enjoy. It didn't seem unlikely that he'd been interested in guys before.

Dean gave him a funny look. "No, actually, it's not that." He seemed surprised even as he replied. "I thought it was, but it's not." After a pause, he added, "What do you mean you always assumed?" He looked bewildered. "I've never...I mean, I've looked, but I've never, you know, done anything!"

Sam rolled his eyes. "Neither have I, but there's an archangel hanging around here somewhere that I'm more than interested in. Sometimes it's just the person."

Dean nodded slowly, absorbing that. "Yeah. Yeah, that's true." He nodded more fervently, agreeing with his brother. "I'm still not a fan of him, but you're not stupid. If you like him, I'm okay with it."

Sam's lips twitched. "I'm so glad I have your approval," he deadpanned. In reality, it was important that Dean approved in some capacity, but that wasn't what Sam was concerned about at the moment. "So if the fact that Cas is a guy isn't what's bothering you, what are you so freaked out about? Why is Cas drifting around the mansion like a lost puppy?"

Dean winced, seeming chagrined to hear that. "Okay, hear me out," he said, suddenly determined to explain himself. "These guys are  _angels_ ," he emphasized, his eyes going just a little bit wider. "With everything we've seen, and the way we've been raised, I..."

Understanding flooded Sam. "You're worried about getting into bed with a supernatural creature."

"So to speak," Dean added, shifting a little. "I know they're good, or at least I'm pretty sure, but how can we know for sure? What if this is some elaborate trick, and we're going to give in and wind up dead? What about Dad? Or Bobby? Or any other hunter we've known who would kick our asses for even considering dating a supernatural creature?" He paused, sighing. "I just..."

"Wait," Sam interjected, taking advantage of Dean's pause. "You literally just said you were okay with Gabe and I being a thing. If it's okay for us, why the hell isn't it okay for you and Cas?"

Dean snorted. "I know, right? Something's messed up in my head, but I can't seem to convince myself it's a good idea. It's like, I'm supposed to be the good example, do what Dad taught us, and keep the two of us alive. This doesn't seem like the way to do that."

Sam shrugged. "I don't know, I'm pretty sure Gabe would smite the hell out of anything that tried to hurt me."

Dean pointed at Sam emphatically. "Yes! Exactly! I'm sure Cas would do the same thing, but I can't seem to get my head around actually doing something about it!"

"Look," Sam said firmly, waiting until he had eye contact with his brother before continuing. "We're not idiots. We've seen a lot in our time, and we've lost a hell of a lot more than anyone ever should. I don't know where the hell Dad is, and right now, I don't give a rat's ass what he thinks about Gabe and Cas. He abandoned us, and he doesn't get a vote here. I believe Gabe and Cas truly care about us. Yes, they're supernatural creatures, but they've kept us safe, fed us, clothed us, entertained us, and gone out of their way to make us comfortable. I mean, for god's sake, Dean, they even made sure the Impala was safe. I mean, sure, we're trapped here, but they've got a good reason for that, and I don't think they're being deliberately cruel by keeping us here. Gabe cares about me, he even likes you, and Cas sure as hell cares about you, which should be obvious if you've been paying attention."

"Where were you keeping that speech?" Dean snarked, looking a little surprised. He relaxed a bit, nodding in agreement. "Okay, point taken. You're right, I'm overthinking it."

"I'm pretty sure that's usually my job," Sam pointed out, smiling.

Dean huffed a laugh. "Yeah, well, this isn't our usual deal."

"I was worried about the same thing," Sam added, referencing Dean's concerns, "but I really don't think we're in any danger from them. I think they'd do everything they could to protect us."

"You're right," Dean finally admitted with a sigh. "So, now what?"

"Now, you go apologize to Cas for hurting him," Sam instructed, trying to keep his amusement at Dean's embarrassed face hidden. "Then, you guys go bond or whatever."

"While you what, have hot messy sex with the cherub?" Dean snarked, ducking so Sam couldn't smack him.

"Dude!" Sam protested, feeling his cheeks flush. "Absolutely no discussion of our sex lives with heavenly beings," he announced, glaring at his brother. "Or anyone, for that matter." As an afterthought, he added, "He's an archangel, asshole. Not a cherub."

"He's still tiny," Dean teased, grinning. "All right, point taken. I'll go find Cas." Getting to his feet, he paused and turned to give Sam a genuine look of gratitude. "Thanks."

"Any time," Sam assured him, watching Dean depart the room. The younger Winchester had an archangel to find!


	14. Chapter 14

When Sam left Dean, he immediately went to the computer panel in the hallway, tapping at it and asking, "Where's Gabe?"

"In the hot tub, sugar bear," the computer informed him, its mechanical female voice relaying what had to be Gabriel's words.

Sam rolled his eyes and walked towards the pool. There hadn't originally been a hot tub adjacent to the pool, but Gabriel had decided that it was an oversight not to have one, and there was now a massive additional room to the pool area, which was made up almost entirely of the gigantic hot tub. Sam debated changing into his swimming trunks before going to find his archangel, but he figured that if Gabriel really wanted him in the hot tub, he could snap Sam up a swimsuit just fine. Plus, Sam fully intended to get the archangel naked shortly, so it was a moot point.

Making his way into the pool area, Sam hooked a right and pulled open the double doors to reveal the hot tub. Gabriel was lounging in the hot tub, and it was immediately evident that Sam didn't need to worry about a swimsuit. Gabriel certainly hadn't.

"Samsquatch!" Gabriel called out, grinning at his hunter. "How's it hanging?"

Sam peeled his eyes away from Gabriel's complete lack of modesty, raising an eyebrow as he made eye contact. "I have some great news for you," he announced.

Gabriel matched his expression, raising his own eyebrow. "Oh? Do share."

Sam let an impossibly large grin take over his face. "Dean kissed Cas."

"Seriously?!" Gabriel's jaw dropped, and he looked a little angry. "What did he do next? Kick Cas in the face? He's been moping for days!"

"To be far, so was Dean," Sam pointed out. "We talked about it. He was having a mini freakout over you guys being supernatural creatures."

Gabriel snorted. "What, is he just now figuring that out? I snap up dinner for you guys right in front of you every day."

"You know what I mean," Sam chided him mildly. "I'm pretty sure he's managed to pull himself together now anyway. When I left him he said he was going to go apologize to Cas and make it right."

"I hope so," Gabriel huffed. After a moment, his eyes went wide with sudden realization. "Wait, you won?"

"I won," Sam confirmed, the broad grin back on his face. "I don't know about you, but I'm a little impatient to collect my winnings."

Gabriel snapped his fingers, and Sam abruptly found himself laying on a gigantic bed, his head sinking into an unnecessary amount of pillow and a slightly damp archangel straddling his waist.

"Geez, Gabe, warn a guy!" Sam breathed out, still a little disoriented by the shift. It took him a second to recognize that Gabriel was still completely naked, and seemed perfectly content to be on top of Sam. "You do remember who won the bet, right?" He challenged, thrusting his hips just enough to jostle the smaller man.

Gabriel rocked with Sam's motion, grinning and laughing out loud. "Oh, trust me, I remember," he replied, winking at Sam. "I never said anything about letting you run the show though."

Sam's eyebrows shot up, a thrill running through him at the implications. "So I just have to sit here and look pretty?" He teased, his confidence bolstered by Gabriel's complete lack of shame.

The archangel looked pleased at the joke, shifting back until he was rubbing up against the growing bulge in Sam's jeans, a mischievous glint in his eye. "You read my mind, Samsquatch," he agreed, the look on his face the textbook definition of lascivious. "You won, after all, so I'm going to make damn sure you get your prize."

Sam couldn't tell from Gabriel's tone if he should be excited or worried. To be honest, he felt a little of both. He watched with some trepidation as Gabriel winked at him again, then snapped his fingers. Sam's hands shot to the headboard, the surprising sensation of silk winding its way around his wrists. Sam tilted his head so he could see his newly bound hands, and debated whether or not he could slip out of the bonds if need be. Not that he was planning to, but some habits are hard to break. Surely silk could be slipped out of. It looked like the bit of golden fabric was a scarf of some kind, and Sam wondered if it had already been Gabriel's, or if he'd invented it out of thin air for the occasion.

Gabriel noticed his fascination and snorted. "Trust me, kiddo, you're not slipping away from me. You're going to get a show."

Sam's gaze shot back to Gabriel, his eyebrows raised once again. He meant to challenge the archangel's assertion, but another snap of the archangel's fingers, resulting in the loss of Sam's clothing, surprised him before he got the chance. "Whoa!" He exclaimed, fighting against the embarrassment of being abruptly naked for the first time in front of Gabriel. 

Gabriel wolf whistled, his eyes dragging down Sam's body with an appreciative leer. He shifted his body weight, grinding down against Sam's newly revealed cock, his grin evil as the action tore a moan from the man beneath him. Gabriel leaned down, whispering in Sam's ear, "Oh, I'm going to have fun with you."

Sam shivered, the warmth of the room doing nothing to abate the chill that ran down his spine at Gabriel's words. He'd been too distracted by the archangel to even register his own arousal, but it was impossible to ignore now that he was naked. His cock was fully erect, flushed and just a little slick from his own precum. If he wasn't careful, he'd be finished before anything had even happened. It had been years since Sam had been so encompassed in another person. His forced his attention back to Gabriel, who was eyeing him with what could only be described as thirst. Sam had been surprised, the first time he'd seen Gabriel without a shirt, to discover that them man was quite muscular, something he normally kept hidden under unnecessary layers. He had a softened layer to him that disguised the strength of his body, and a fine dusting of golden hair that formed his treasure trail. His cock was shorter than Sam's, though not by much, and a little thicker. It was darker in color too, and Sam couldn't tear his eyes away from the bead of precum on the tip, wondering what Gabriel tasted like.

When Sam finally managed to drag his eyes up to meet Gabriel's gaze, he was startled to see the archangel looking at him in amusement. "See something you like?" He asked, waggling his eyebrows.

Sam groaned, dropping his head back against the pillow. "That was the dumbest line," he complained, but unable to resist huffing a laugh. He caught sight of the tail end of the golden scarf keeping him bound, and he tugged uselessly at his bonds, lifting his head up to give Gabriel a pointed look. "What's this about?" He pulled once more, just because, before giving up and giving Gabriel a half-hearted glare.

Gabriel grinned. "That's just to keep you from touching while I get ready." Another snap of his finger provided Gabriel with a bottle of lube, and he popped off the lid without waiting for a reaction.

The scent of strawberry struck Sam, and he almost laughed. Of course Gabriel would use strawberry lube. He was about to comment, but all words flew from his mind as he watched, mouth open, as Gabriel liberally coated two fingers with lube, then reached behind himself, never breaking eye contact with Sam.

"Holy shit," Sam murmured, eye wide as his eyes flew between Gabriel's face and his fingers. He ached to touch the archangel, and abruptly understood the reason for the scarf. Sam may have been topping, as per the bet, but there was no doubt that Gabriel was very much in charge here. Sam didn't think he'd ever been so turned on in his life.

Gabriel made a loud moaning noise as he entered himself, the pace maddeningly slow. He didn't bother with one finger, starting himself out with two right away. Sam assumed he had to have done something to make that easier on himself, because he didn't seem to be feeling any soreness. He slowly increased his pace, but seemed to be careful to avoid his prostate, instead working up to add a third finger, then increasing the speed to fast and dirty, entirely focused on opening himself up.

Sam whined, not even really aware that he was making the noise. He couldn't think of anything he wanted more than to touch Gabriel right now, except maybe to be inside him.

"Almost, kiddo," Gabriel replied, winking at the bound hunter beneath him. "Trust me, it'll be worth the wait." He continued with three fingers, canting his hips so Sam could see his fingers disappearing in and out of himself.

"I'm going to lose it before you've even done anything at this rate," Sam groaned, torn between wanting to fall back against the pillows and being unable to keep his eyes off Gabriel.

The archangel laughed out loud. "Then we've really got to work on your stamina, Samsquatch."

"Screw you," Sam replied, but the retort didn't have any bite.

"You're about to," Gabriel promised, his eyes flashing. He removed his fingers without warning, a mere thought cleaning them of any remnants of lube, and he crawled forward over Sam's body, his fingers giving feather light touches to any expanse of skin he could reach. He moved forward with a surge, taking Sam's lips in a possessive kiss, and swallowing the groan of pleasure he earned as a result. Gabriel nearly groaned himself as Sam allowed him the upper hand without any battle for dominance, allowing the archangel to take charge of the kiss and map Sam's mouth with his tongue. After a moment, Gabriel reluctantly pulled away, smiling at the look on Sam's face.

"I wasn't done kissing you yet," Sam told him, doing his best to look irritated at the archangel.

Gabriel smirked, and without warning moved backwards to hover over Sam's lap. He waited until he had eye contact with the hunter, then in one swift movement he took the hunter's cock in hand, lining himself up and impaling himself, sinking down with a groan as Sam cried out.

"Oh my god, Gabe,  _move_ ," Sam begged, his head burrowed in the pillows as he obviously tried his best not to thrust. This was Gabriel's show - he got to choose the pace.

Gabriel huffed but obliged him, lifting himself up just slightly before pushing himself back down, shifting just a little to change the angle. He continued at that pace, moving up and done in small amounts, until Sam was all but sobbing beneath him, begging for more. "Don't worry, kiddo," Gabriel reassured him, gripping at Sam's hips. "I've got you."

Sam let out what could only be described as a scream when Gabriel began to ride him in earnest, practically bouncing up and down on Sam's lap. It was torture for Sam to keep his hips still, but Gabriel's grip helped ground him. The archangel cried out whenever the angle was just right and Sam's cock struck his prostate, and he did his best to maintain that angle as much as possible.

"I'm close," Gabriel grunted, looking at Sam's face to try and judge exactly how far gone his hunter was.

Sam made some kind of unintelligible noise, which he hoped communicated exactly how very close to falling over the edge he was.

Gabriel snapped his fingers, releasing Sam's hands. He grabbed at Sam's arms until the hunter managed to figure out what he wanted and offered his hand to the archangel. Gabriel wrapped Sam's much larger hand around his cock, using the curled fingers to jerk off. Sam was too far gone to even really register what Gabriel was doing.

"Now, Sam!" Gabriel cried out. Almost immediately he felt Sam spasm, and he let go of his restraint as he felt the larger man fill him up. His own come splattered against Sam's chest, marking the hunter, which Gabriel found unbelievably satisfying. As soon as he felt Sam go limp beneath him, he climbed off of the hunter, waving his hand lazily to clean them both up. He lay down beside Sam, lifting himself up slightly to give the hunter a passionate kiss.

It took Sam a moment to catch up with Gabriel, but when he did he returned the kiss eagerly, trying to convey exactly how much he'd enjoyed the whole event into his actions. When Gabriel finally pulled away, Sam opened his eyes, smiling softly at the archangel. "Hey," Sam said, feeling a little silly but not sure what else to say.

"That was awesome," Gabriel announced, unashamed. "You're a beast."

Sam snorted, feeling less awkward immediately, which may well have been Gabriel's intent. "You're a spitfire," he retorted, grinning.

"Isn't that an airplane?" Gabriel teased, trailing his fingers over the gloriously bare skin he still had in front of him.

Sam rolled his eyes. "You knew what I meant."

Gabriel shrugged, allowing that, and snapped his fingers, offering Sam a glass of orange juice.

"Mmm," Sam protested. "I need a nap."

"Sleep after you drink," Gabriel ordered. "Humans need to hydrate. It's a thing with you."

Snorting again, Sam gave in, drinking the juice and handing the glass back to Gabriel, who vanished it with a thought. "How long do you think we can stay here before we have to make ourselves presentable?"

"I'd be good with an eternal sex marathon," Gabriel informed him, his expression perfectly serious.

Laughing, Sam relaxed against the bed, turning to pull Gabriel closer. "I can get behind that."

"Good, because next time I want to hold you down myself while I get to pound you through the mattress," Gabriel announced casually.

Sam choked on nothing for a moment, too surprised to respond. "I'm going to need a minute," he finally said, a little breathless from the mere thought.

Gabriel laughed out loud. "Sleep, Samsquatch. We'll save the sex marathon for another time. Besides, we gotta find out what kind of drama our brothers have cooked up in our absence."

Sam drifted off, thinking to himself that that was a very valid point.


	15. Chapter 15

When Dean set off to find Castiel, he hadn't expected it to take so long. The angel was usually available as soon as Dean wanted him, something Dean had never really observed before, and now felt like a jerk for failing to notice. He refused to ask the fancy Star Trek system where Castiel was. He was going to handle his problems old school, which meant tracking down the angel without the help of angelically imbued future technology. The resemblance to their initial game of hide and seek wasn't lost on him, but Dean knew that Castiel didn't want to be found this time. Still, Dean was the best hunter there was, if he pretended his father hadn't masterfully evaded his son's attempts to locate him. There was also Bobby, but he was like forty percent retired, at least, so Dean didn't think he counted. He was the best hunting home base there was, for sure.

For some reason, Dean was certain Castiel wouldn't be in the mansion. If he'd really been avoiding everyone, then staying in the place where he was most likely to find company wouldn't have been ideal. Plus, if Castiel was pining, as Dean selfishly hoped he was, the woods where the kiss had happened made the most sense. Now, Dean just had miles of forest to scour through. He wasn't particularly looking forward to it.

The problem with the forest on the island was that it all looked exactly the same. Dean moved in a ring around the mansion, looking up into the trees and checking behind especially thick trunks, as if Castiel would genuinely be playing hide and seek with him. Was it too much to hope that the angel would actually be easy to find? Apparently, given the complete absence of dark hair, blue eyes, and a ridiculous trench coat anywhere in the mess of trees.

After circling the mansion three times, in bigger loops each time, Dean was fed up with the forest. "That's it," he muttered. He turned around and stalked confidently in the direction of the beach. The game was still in place, and if Castiel didn't want him leaving, he was going to have to come get him himself. Dean realized absently that this was easily the closest he'd ever been to the beach since being issued the initial challenge, and a small part of him worried that Castiel wouldn't stop him. If he hadn't freaked out, none of this would have happened.

Dean was caught up enough inside his own castigation that he missed the flutter of wings. If he hadn't looked up, he would have plowed right into the angel he'd been searching for. "Cas!" He blurted, a grin spreading across his face without realizing it.

"Are you attempting to leave, Dean?" Castiel asked, his expression more closed off than it had been since the very beginning of their time on the island. Dean was rocked by how much the angel had changed around him, now that the comfortability they'd acquired was seemingly absent.

"No!" Dean hastened to assure him. "I just couldn't find you, and I got tired of searching the forest, so I figured if I headed for the beach, you'd have to come find me. Which worked, obviously." He was still fairly pleased with himself for that.

Castiel nodded in acceptance, his face still grave. "I see. How did you know I was in the forest?" His head tilted ever so slightly to the side.

Dean felt quite validated that his guess about the forest had been correct. "Lucky guess," he dismissed. "Look, I need to talk to you. It's important."

"I think you should return to the mansion," Castiel said, almost as if he hadn't heard Dean at all.

"Not until we talk," Dean said firmly. The irony of him, Dean Winchester, wanting to start a conversation about emotions wasn't lost on him, but he pushed the part of himself that wanted to just drop it away. This was important. If Sam and Gabriel could do whatever the hell they were doing, then Dean and Castiel didn't have any excuses not to have what they wanted too. Assuming Dean hadn't already screwed it up, that is.

"About?" Castiel prompted, seeming resigned to a conversation he wouldn't like.

Dean had an entire speech, more or less, but looking at Castiel's face, he couldn't quite bring himself to blurt out the jumble of words that would make excuses for his previous behavior. "Ah, screw it," he muttered, moving forward before Castiel could react and gripping the angel's neck, hauling him in for another kiss. This time, there was no mistaking his passion for anything other than what it was. Castiel was frozen for a split second until Dean flicked his tongue against the angel's lips. The shorter man gasped and succumbed to the onslaught, allowing himself to melt into what would have been a bruising grip on a mortal. 

Dean reached around to lay his free hand on Castiel's back, pulling the angel in flush against him and shifting his head slightly to change the angle of the kiss. For as sweet and wonderful as their first kiss had been, minus Dean's subsequent freakout, there was little doubt in Dean's mind that this was the most enjoyable he had ever found kissing in his entire life.

After a moment of utter bliss, to Dean's mind, Castiel separated himself from the hunter with little difficulty, despite Dean's increased grip in an attempt to keep him in place.

"I may not need air," the angel stated, amusement in his eyes, "but you do."

Dean scowled, but relaxed back into a regular standing position, looking over Castiel hopefully. Maybe, just maybe, the first time hadn't screwed everything up.

"You said something about talking?" Castiel encouraged, raising an eyebrow.

With a groan, Dean asked, "Can't we just forget the first time happened and pretend this was it? Because this was great."

"I concur," Castiel allowed, "but I still want an explanation."

Dean grumbled and looked around, but no convenient means of escape prevented itself. "Fine. I freaked out, Cas, okay?"

"I observed that," Castiel replied dryly. "Why?"

"Because," Dean defended himself. After a beat, he added, "You're..." he waved his hand vaguely at Castiel, hoping to encapsulate all of the angel in that motion. "And I'm a hunter, and this is all new to me anyway, but I just freaked out about the idea of being with a supernatural creature, monster or not. I got caught up in everything I've been taught, what my Dad might think, all of that." Dean huffed, wondering if he was making himself clear.

Castiel nodded, seeming to understand. "You know I would never harm you nor allow you to come to harm," he stated, his eyes betraying how serious he was.

"I do," Dean confirmed, equally as serious. "I didn't mean to hurt you, or your feelings. I swear, once I realized that I'd basically just abandoned you like that I felt even worse."

"Why didn't you come to me sooner, then?" Castiel asked, his brow furrowing slightly. He had spent the last few days wandering the halls of the mansion or the forest outside, doing his best to avoid his brother and both Winchesters. After the second time he accidentally stumbled into Sam, he had begun wandering exclusively through the forest, passing by the tree that had been the sight of his kiss with Dean more than once. Perhaps half a dozen times. He hadn't been counting.

Dean shrugged. "I suck at talking. I just wanted to wallow. Sam finally found me and made me put it into words, then explained why he thought I was being stupid. I knew everything he said was true, I just needed to hear someone else say it, I guess. Anyway, that's why I came to find you. The sooner we put my panic behind us, the sooner we can move on."

Castiel genuinely smiled at that, his eyes lighting up. "That is very true. I believe we have some lost time to make up, Dean." The glint in his eyes left absolutely no doubt as to his meaning.

Dean was absolutely not blushing, but he was definitely up for an afternoon of making up for lost time with his angel. "Yeah, yeah, definitely. You going to take us back to the mansion?"

Castiel reached out for Dean's shoulder. In an instant, they were in what had to be Castiel's room. It was large, but largely lacking in decor of any kind. The colors were variants of beige, all seeming to match Castiel's trenchcoat in some way. Dean had a sneaking suspicion that Gabriel had done the decorating as a joke, and Castiel hadn't appreciated the humor enough to be inclined to change it. The bed was quite large, but very simple, without many pillows. There was a painting on the opposite wall, which Dean though he recognized for some reason, but art was more Sam's thing. If it was famous, it would surprise him. It seemed to be depicting a very naturalistic view of Heaven, which was understandable, Dean thought. There was a couch, a few chairs, and a mirror in various parts of the room, but that was it. For an angel who didn't need anything, it was almost more furniture than Dean expected.

"I do not spend a lot of time here, typically," Castiel explained. "It is private though." He gestured around, indicating the wide open and largely empty space.

"Do you have any kind of..." Dean trailed off, suddenly not sure he actually wanted to ask this question. "Uh...experience?" He scratched at his neck, a little embarrassed at the question.

Castiel seemed to have no such reserve. "I watched much of the initial hedonism Gabriel partook in, but was not a participant. He encouraged me to indulge a few times, but to little success. I was there for his company, not the rabid hordes of pretty young things eager to prostrate themselves before a being of greater power." He made a dismissive noise. "It was never my particular scene, as it were. Gabriel, for all his bragging, does not miss it either. I believe him to be happier right now than I've ever seen him."

"Huh." It took Dean a second to wrap his head around the fact that an archangel who used to have the literal pick of the Earth in terms of bed mates was happier now, with Sam, than he'd ever been. He trusted Castiel though, and the information went a long way to reassuring him of Gabriel's good will. He forced himself back to his initial question. If Castiel never indulged in Gabriel's hedonism all those years ago... "So, you're like a virgin?" Dean asked, feeling a little blunt.

Castiel shrugged. "I suppose. I am certainly not ignorant of how such things work. What about you?"

If Dean had been embarrassed before, he was certain his face was red hot now. "Uh, no, well, not with a dude, anyway. Girls, yeah, sure, but never with a guy. Not for lack of looking, just..."

"Never the right person?" Castiel finished for him, ending it in a question.

Dean nodded emphatically. "Yeah. Maybe I didn't know that, but yeah. I think so."

Taking a seat on a large, plain couch that dominated the room, Castiel motioned for Dean to join him. When the hunter did so, Castiel leaned forward to press a soft kiss to Dean's cheek. "I intend to be that person, Dean Winchester."

A shudder ran through Dean, more forceful than he had expected. "You are," he breathed the admission, letting his eyes flutter shut. "You are," he said again, more firmly.

"Let me get to know you," Castiel said, his voice growing deeper, if that was even possible. Dean felt the angel's voice in his bones. Castiel placed a hand on Dean's collarbone, and leaned forward to kiss him again.

Dean was absolutely certain he was going to love every moment of being known by Castiel.


	16. Chapter 16

By some miracle, all four residents of the island stumbled into the kitchen the next morning around the same time. They all flew, Gabriel appearing with Sam in tow in the middle of the kitchen, both of them rumpled and clearly not having combed their hair. Both men had bruised lips and flushed cheeks, and hints of decorative neck marks were visible on both of them. Sam and Gabriel both grinned whenever they caught sight of the evidence of their handiwork on the other. Castiel and Dean had landed in the hallway outside and walked into the kitchen holding hands. Dean felt incredibly sappy, but he'd spent the whole evening kissing and cuddling Castiel, and was more content than he'd ever been. He'd never have believe it of himself, but he wasn't even feeling bereft due to a lack of sex. Although, he was sure they'd get to that sooner rather than later.

Dean came to a stop in the entry of the kitchen, shaking his head vehemently. "Hell no," he blurted, eyes wide at the sight of the clearly debauched couple that had appeared seconds before.

Castiel came into view behind Dean, still holding the hunter's hand, and cocked his head slightly. "Is something amiss?"

Turning in place, Dean raised his eyebrows and gave Castiel the most skeptical look he could manage. "Seriously? Dude, look at them!"

Gabriel looked immensely proud of himself, and his grin was unapologetic. "Morning!" He called.

Rolling his eyes, Sam ran his hands through his hair to smooth it out a little and took a step forward. "So, did you two make up?" He asked, gesturing to Castiel and Dean, who were still holding hands.

Dean flushed a little at the realization, but stubbornly kept his grip on Castiel, refusing to let the anti-emotion side of him mess things up. "Don't change the subject, bitch," Dean retorted. "You two look like you just walked out of an orgy!"

Looking mildly offended, Sam started to say, "Listen, jerk-" but Gabriel interrupted him with a laugh.

"Orgies require a hell of a lot more people, Dean-o!" Gabriel protested, clearly amused. "The term you're looking for is sex marathon."

Dean shuddered and made a grossed-out noise. "DUDE!" He exclaimed, eyes showing his horror, "I'm never going to un-hear that!"

Passing over the conversation entirely, Castiel directed his attention to Sam. "To answer your question, Sam, yes, we have made up, so to speak."

Sam smiled, ignoring his new archangel boyfriend and his brother for a moment. "I'm happy for you guys."

That seemed to take the wind out of Dean's sails, and aside from shooting Gabriel a menacing glare, Dean settled for relaxing back into place next to Castiel and moving on to a new topic. "So, breakfast?" He prompted the group, looking around dramatically to accentuate the fact that there was currently no food in sight.

Gabriel shrugged. "I thought about doing the whole romantic cooking thing, but if we all want to eat together, I might as well just snap it up for us in the dining room. Saves time."

Nodding, Sam added, "I agree. You and I can do the whole cooking thing together another time."

Not bothering to give anyone any warning, Gabriel snapped his fingers and moved everyone into the dining room, where an impressive breakfast spread was laid out. Bacon, sausage, eggs in three different forms, pancakes, waffles, fruit, oatmeal, and even cereal was all set out before them. The hot dishes steamed, showing no signs of cooling off, and the cold fruit sparkled with moisture, oozing juiciness.

"Holy mother of breakfast," Dean muttered, vaguely aware that he was still holding hands with Castiel. He was pretty sure he'd never been a hand holding kind of guy. That seemed like something he would've made fun of Sam for doing. Dean was determined not to panic over his relationship with Castiel again, not now that the angel had forgiven him for his first screw up, so he ignored the part of him that rebelled against the apparently sappy gesture.

"Thank you," Gabriel preened, taking a seat and tugging Sam down into the chair next to him. "Eat up, guys. There's plenty for everyone."

It quickly became apparent that 'plenty for everyone' meant 'every dish replenishes what's removed from it,' which in turn meant 'Dean Winchester can eat as much as he wants until he gets sick.' Sam had better restraint, and warned Dean several times over the course of breakfast about how much food his older brother was tucking away.

"Dude!" Sam protested, a piece of pineapple halfway to his mouth. "That's like your fifth waffle!"

"Your point?" Dean asked around a mouthful of the breakfast food in question, looking extremely pleased.

Sam huffed and waved a hand at him, dismissing his brother. "Whatever, make yourself sick. You'll regret it in an hour."

To be fair, Dean did know better, but whatever angel powers Gabriel had that resulted in food must have also infused that food with crack, because Dean had trouble not eating anything the archangel put in front of him.

"We should all do something together today," Sam said, switching his attention to the two angels. "Now that Dean and Cas are talking again I mean," he added, inclining his head towards them as he spoke. "It's been awhile since we've all hung out."

"What do you think we should do?" Castiel asked, pleased by the suggestion.

Sam shrugged and looked at Gabriel. "I dunno, any ideas?"

"Skinny dipping," Gabriel announced, waggling his eyebrows at Sam.

"Absolutely not," Sam protested. "We're two sets of brothers! I don't care if angels have some different concept of modesty. Human siblings don't actively seek out opportunities to see each other naked."

Dean snorted. "C'mon, Sammy, ain't like it's anything I haven't seen before."

His face red, Sam shook his head adamantly. "Dude, just because we grew up in each other's pockets does  _not_ mean we need to seek out opportunities to make things awkward."

Chuckling, Dean inclined his head towards Sam and shrugged, turning to give Gabriel an apologetic look. "Sorry, man. You're dating the prudish brother." In all honesty, Dean had absolutely no interest in skinny dipping with Gabriel or Sam, but he couldn't resist the opportunity to make his brother blush and get all flustered like that. It was pretty much his duty, and he didn't have as many opportunities to make the kid go all red and awkward anymore. Dean appreciated the little things in life.

Gabriel snorted. "Clearly you haven't seen this one in bed. Prude, my ass."

Sam beamed at the archangel standing up for him while Dean went bright red and started choking on his waffle. Castiel, with a patiently amused look on his face, sent a wave of grace into his hunter, simultaneously relieving Dean of the waffle attempting to restrict his breathing and lessening the influence of the sheer quantity of food he had consumed.

Dean hadn't even realized he was feeling sick from eating too much until Castiel fixed the problem. Putting aside the remainder of his waffle, he mouthed a 'thank you' at his angel and sat back in his chair, relaxing a little. "So, if we aren't skinny dipping, what are we doing?"

"The pool isn't a bad idea," Sam pointed out. "Just, with trunks on. We can play water volleyball and stuff, brothers versus brothers, or couple versus couple." He raised an eyebrow at Dean, not sure if he was presuming too much to refer to his brother and Castiel as a couple. There was the whole hand holding thing, but not much time had passed since the two weren't even speaking, so Sam didn't want to push it too much.

"I'm game," Dean agreed, not even batting an eye at Sam's terminology, meeting his brother's gaze head on. "It's been a while since you and I have gone head to head in any kind of sport." When Sam was younger he'd been into soccer, and Dean had practiced drills with him every so often, but they hadn't really ever been sporty per se. Most of their fitness had come from hunting and training, which wasn't really fun. They'd definitely both played sports, but rarely together. 

"If you will teach me, I would be happy to participate," Castiel added, responding to Sam but looking at Dean, who nodded in response to the query.

Gabriel clapped. "Awesome, that's settled. Swimming it is! Let's go." He held up his hand, preparing to snap.

"Dude, wait!" Dean protested, holding a hand out to stop Gabriel, not that he really had any chance of actually doing so.

Looking mildly annoyed, the archangel raised an eyebrow at the older Winchester. "What?" He sighed heavily.

"We just ate," Dean pointed out. "Aren't you supposed to wait like an hour or whatever? I mean, unless you're going to use angel mojo to fix that."

Both Gabriel and Castiel looked utterly bewildered, but Sam started laughing. "Dean, that's a myth," he informed his brother. "An old wives' tale."

Dean scowled. "What makes you so sure?" He challenged. "Like every time we were went swimming as kids we were told that."

"I took a health class at Stanford," Sam explained. "Trust me, it's a myth. I was surprised too. It's just something that got accepted as fact during the last generation, so they kept repeating it."

"Whatever," Dean grumbled. If things he was told all throughout his childhood were going to turn out to be false, he felt like he had a right to be informed before he reached adulthood.

"So can we go now?" Gabriel asked, looking between the brothers with an exasperated expression. Dean waved his hand noncommittally, and Gabriel snapped.

The four of them appeared beside the pool, dressed in swimming trunks. The pool already had a volleyball net strung across it, and a ball was floating in the water.

"So," Gabriel announced, turning to face the three of them. "Brothers versus brothers or couple versus couple?"

Sam and Dean exchanged looks, then grinned. "Brothers versus brothers," they said in unison. They may have each been enamored with their own person angel, but that didn't mean they weren't going to take advantage of a chance to showcase their athleticism. Plus, if they way each angel was eyeing their hunter's bare chest was any indication, a spirited game of water volleyball was going to end very well for everyone involved.

Over the course of three games, it became very clear that this particular group of four had trouble keeping their attentions on much other than their significant others. Sam and Dean won the first game handily, after forcing Gabriel to promise not to cheat. They didn't bother to make Castiel promise, because the idea wouldn't have even occurred to him. The second and third games were couple versus couple, and both suffered from two very specific problems. First, whenever Sam made a particularly powerful spike with the ball that made his muscles ripple, which was often, Gabriel would tackle him for a quick make out session. Second, Castiel was so often distracted by Dean that he was actually hit in the head with the ball more than once, which luckily didn't seem to faze him in the slightest. Sam and Gabriel won the second game, but not the first, due to the aforementioned making out problem. Sam offered creative victory sex, which made Dean mime throwing up, if Gabriel could focus, so they won the second game with very little trouble.

As they emerged from the pool, Sam braced himself and offered Dean a hand to help haul his brother out of the water. The angels were already out, Castiel attempting to fend Gabriel off as the archangel shook his head to spray the younger angel with water.

"You know," Sam said thoughtfully, watching the two heavenly beings, "I think I'm happier here than I ever have been." Suddenly looking worried, he turned to Dean with wide eyes. "Is that wrong?"

It wasn't dissimilar from the crisis Dean had been having, but he didn't have to think about it. He'd already come to peace with it. "No," he said, his tone firm, allowing for no argument. At Sam's curious expression, Dean shrugged and clarified, "We're  _us_ here, Sammy. We don't have to keep secrets, but we don't have to worry about being in danger either. There's no monsters, but we don't have to act like they aren't out there. There's no lies, and we can relax and have fun. I mean, shit, Sam, when was the last time we just had fun?"

It wasn't like the brothers never went out and had fun together, but they certainly didn't do it often. "You're right," Sam murmured, a smile spreading across his face. "This feels good."

"Damn right it does," Dean agreed, throwing an arm up and awkwardly around his brother's shoulders. "C'mon, let's see if the Heaven's renegades have any other plans or if we're splitting off to go ravish each other."

Sam snorted and shoved Dean off of him. "Dude, gross. I so don't need details."

Laughing, Dean ruffled his hair with his hand, ridding it of excess moisture. Pausing, he pointed at his brother and said, "That goes for you too. No details!"

"I won't if you won't," Sam offered with a grin.

"Deal," Dean said immediately, making an over exaggerated sigh of relief.

"You guys coming or what?" Gabriel called. He and Castiel had migrated to the other side of the pool in their brotherly tussle, and were now waiting impatiently for the Winchesters to join them.

"Duty calls," Sam said with a laugh, gesturing towards the angels. He started off towards them, Dean following behind him.

"Booty calls," Dean corrected, grinning and dodging as his brother reached back to swat him. Sam's words came back to him, and he felt his smile grow. They were happy. How awesome was that?


	17. Chapter 17

Dean knew he wasn't actually in Heaven, but laying face first on the softest bed he'd ever been on with an angel straddling his hips and giving him a back massage was his definition of Heaven as of right now. The hunter let out a low groan, unable to stop himself as Castiel worked out a particularly stubborn knot. Dean knew Castiel could have just used his grace to fix every little issue with Dean's back, but he was doing it by hand, which was a gesture Dean appreciated more than he had words to convey. 

"The capacity of the human body to retain stress is both distressing and impressive," Castiel said, his voice low and soft in the otherwise quiet room. "You have far more tension than is healthy."

Dean chuckled, huffing a breath through his nose into the pillow he was attempting not to smother himself with. Turning his head a little so his mouth wasn't muffled, he said, "Stressful jobs do that to you. Hunting probably isn't the best career move if you want a stress free life."

"I believe that is what is referred to as an understatement," Castiel murmured, his lips closer to Dean's ear that time. "Do you ever regret becoming a hunter?"

Actually pausing to give the question some thought, Dean gave a small shrug. "Not really. I mean, it's not like I actually had a choice, what with Dad, but I'm not sure I'd do something else if given the chance. Not that I couldn't, probably, but I can't really imagine not hunting."

"You could not bear to not save others," Castiel stated, seeming to determine that as the underlying confession in Dean's words. "Is that the main reason you dislike being on the island with us?"

"I don't  _not_ want to be here," Dean emphasized. "I do feel a little bit restless, but it's not as bad as I would have thought. I like being here, I do. It's just hard for me to wrap my head around that, I guess."

"I understand. Perhaps hunting part time while maintaining a more stable life would be a happy medium for you." Castiel's hands shifted to Dean's shoulders, kneading the skin and muscle there.

Dean nodded. "I can see that. I was always a good mechanic. Sam would probably love that. He's too much of a hunter to stop altogether, especially since everything with Stanford, but he'd love to be more stationary. That's why I got him to do the college classes, so he has something outside of hunting that's his."

"How you care for Sam reminds me a great deal of how Gabriel has cared for me," Castiel mused. "It is something I admire about you greatly."

Dean squirmed a little, uncomfortable with the compliment. "Yeah, well, that's my job. Protect him, make sure he's reasonably happy, and keep him breathing. I'm pretty good at it."

Castiel leaned down and pressed a kiss in between Dean's shoulder blades. "And who takes care of you?" He asked quietly.

A moment passed as Dean actually considered the question. "Dad, once upon a time." He paused, thinking about it again. "Not anymore." He'd grown just enough used to the idea that their father had essentially abandoned them to no longer feel the need to defend the man at every turn. "Sam and I take care of each other. And...since we've been here anyway, we've both seemed to acquire guardian angels." Dean took advantage of Castiel adjusting position to flip himself over, facing the angel and taking Castiel's hands in his own.

Castiel smiled, seeming amused by the abrupt position change. "I would be honored to take care of you." He adjusted his seat across Dean's waist, settling on his knees, appreciating the expanse of the hunter's toned chest that was laid out before him.

Dean tracked the angel's gaze and smirked. "You enjoying the view?" He challenged, waggling his eyebrows. They'd yet to go past the great degree of physical intimacy they'd been enjoying to actual sex, but that didn't mean they weren't both eager.

A flush colored Castiel's cheeks lightly, and he huffed a soft laugh at the comment. "I have a great appreciation of everything between here," he leaned forward and brushed a hand just barely over the tips of Dean's hair, "and here," he finished, reaching back to tickle at Dean's toes.

In contrast to Castiel's mild blush, Dean went bright red, ducking his head at the compliment, unsure how to respond. In any relationship he'd ever had, there had never been this level of connection or intensity. He had no previous experience to fall back on, so everything seemed new. Particularly the heavy compliments Castiel dished out as if they were nothing. Dean wasn't used to feeling so...valued? He wasn't sure if that was it, but it seemed like it was.

Untangling his hands from Castiel's, Dean reached up to cup the angel's face, pulling him down as he lifted his torso just enough to meet the angel for a kiss, putting into the action everything he didn't feel he could say out loud. The kiss lasted just long enough that an ache spread through Dean's shoulders before he released Castiel, settling back into the pillows. He had a sneaking suspicion that this angel had ruined him for anyone else.

A fond smile on his face, Castiel traced Dean's features with a light fingertip, trailing down his jaw and mapping the hunter's chest with his hands. "I believe," he began, locking eyes with Dean, "that I would like to get a chance to learn the rest of you." His hands gripped lightly at Dean's hips, and he trailed fingertips along the edge of Dean's jeans, raising an eyebrow in question.

It only took a second for Dean to understand what Castiel was asking for, and he didn't even get the words out before he was nodding vigorously. "Yes, definitely, me too," he babbled, eyes wide. Coming into a little bit more control of himself, he took a deep breath and said, "I would like that too, Cas. Please."

Castiel had been dressed in the dress shirt and pants that he normally wore, although his tie was nearly undone and quite askew. He forwent the effort it would have taken to divest himself of the garments, blinking and removing his own attire and Dean's remaining garments with a mere thought. 

Dean gasped at the sudden airflow where he had previously been clothed, but it took no time at all before both he and his cock were completely focused on Castiel. He wasn't sure the blood had ever flown south quite so quickly.

Castiel seemed larger unclothed. The suit and coat he was always wrapped up in covered the lean muscle and bulk of him, and made him appear much smaller. He was still shorter than Dean, but that was a negligible difference when neither of them were standing. His cock was just as erect as Dean's, which made an automatic comparison easy. Castiel was not as thick as Dean was, but he was longer, probably by at least an inch. Dean couldn't be certain without a ruler, which was the last thing he cared about right now.

Before Dean could say anything, Castiel was moving, adjusting his position as he moved further down Dean's body, now straddling the hunter's legs instead of his waist. Waiting a second to ensure he had Dean's full attention, he leaned forward, never breaking eye contact, and licked at Dean's cock, moving his tongue abruptly from root to tip.

Dean bucked without even meaning too, his head falling back as the sensation barreled through him. "Holy-" he didn't finished the phrase, panting just a little from the shock.

Castiel hummed what sounded like an agreement, moving his hands to Dean's hips to hold the hunter in place as he leaned down again, this time taking the tip of Dean's cock fully into his mouth, licking around it and moving forward to take in more in small increments. 

Dean was doing his best not to buck up and ruin the moment. For someone who'd never given head before, Castiel's technique didn't seem to be suffering. Or, more likely, Dean was just too turned on by Castiel to himself to care whether or not any skill was involved. His cock certainly didn't seem to care, and Castiel was taking advantage of the resulting precum to slick up Dean's cock with one hand, leaving the other hand on Dean's hip as a reminder to stay still.

"You keep doing that, this is going to be over real quick," Dean managed to say, rushing the sentence out before he could be distracted.

Castiel sucked hard once, then pulled off and gave Dean a genuine grin. "I suppose I should stop then," he said, laughing at the put out expression on the hunter's face. "I would like to be inside you," he continued, raising an eyebrow in what may have been a challenge.

Dean inhaled harshly, his jaw going lax. Words failed him, so he just nodded his agreement. He'd have been fine either way, but as soon as Castiel had voiced his desire, Dean couldn't think of anything he wanted more.

When Castiel moved his fingers down between Dean's legs, the hunter was surprised to feel oil coating the digits as they circled around his hole. That was one of the advantages of sex with an angel, apparently.

"I could simply prepare you with a though," Castiel confessed, lightly putting pressure on Dean's hole, so just the tip of a finger slipped in. "I believe the intimacy of doing this myself will outweigh the benefits of an immediate solution."

Had he been a little more cognizant at that moment, Dean probably would have agreed, but at that moment he was too eager to get Castiel inside him to care how it happened. "Hurry up," he demanded, squirming as Castiel finished inserting a single finger, thrusting a few times and coming tantalizingly close to Dean's prostate. The hunter couldn't tell if the angel was aiming for it or not, but he kept brushing it, never hitting it full on.

"Patience," Castiel chided, withdrawing the first finger and carefully adding a second. He moved a little faster this time, making scissoring motions as he went.

Dean let out a low groan at the burn and involuntarily spread his legs wider, adjusting his pose to bring his knees up towards his chest. "I can take it, Cas, more," he urged. Now that they were actually on the cusp of having sex, all of his previous patience regarding not having sex was completely gone. He wanted his angel inside him as soon as possible, stretching be damned.

"I will not hurt you," Castiel said firmly, but as a compromise he did speed up his movements, continuing the scissoring motion and adding a third oiled finger as soon as he felt Dean was ready.

Dean's head fell back against the pillow and he moaned, fighting the urge to throw Castiel down and just impale himself on the angel's cock. Of course, Castiel was a hell of a lot stronger than Dean and could stop him, which now that Dean was thinking about it was insanely hot. He groaned louder at the mental image, and looked up to see Castiel quirking an eyebrow at him.

"Do share," Castiel prompted, looking intensely curious.

Flushing bright pink, Dean shook his head. "Nothing," he said, knowing full well the angel wouldn't believe him.

Castiel paused the motion of his fingers, asking, "Do you want me to stop...?"

"No!" Dean said immediately, looking away before looking back at Castiel, unable to actually remove his gaze from the angel. "It's just, I was thinking about the fact that you're strong enough to hold me down or throw me around or whatever. I'm just not used to being the one that can be manhandled."

Resuming his ministrations, Castiel's lips curved into a smile. "You find that arousing," he stated, knowing he was right.

Still flushed, Dean nodded. "Yeah."

Removing his fingers, now satisfied with his preparation, Castiel cleaned the oils from his fingers with a thought and rearranged his position so he was leaning over Dean. He was lined up to enter the hunter, with his hands encircling Dean's arms, holding the hunter in place. "In that case, I believe I have you at my mercy, Dean."

Before Dean could even dream of coming up with a reply to that, Castiel moved to enter him, thrusting once and burying himself within the hunter. For the first time he struck Dean's prostate directly, sending any thoughts of coherent speech flying out of the hunter's head.

Pleased with the response, Castiel began a steady rhythm, maintaining his grip on Dean as he moved. Though Dean was not speaking, Castiel was fascinated by the amount of nuances within the hunter's expressions. He could see so much of Dean's reactions in every move he made, and every twitch of his face. The clear evidence of Dean's arousal was exciting Castiel even more than he would have thought possible. He managed to peel his eyes away from Dean's face to return attention to the hunter's cock, removing one hand from Dean's arm to stroke his cock. He placed the other hand directly on Dean's chest, exerting just enough of his strength that Dean would be able to feel that he was still pinned to the mattress.

Dean bucked in reaction to the hand on his cock, but found himself unable to push against Castiel's hand. The sheer evidence of Castiel's strength and power over him caused an overflow of precum, and he was abruptly aware of how close he was to the edge. "Close," he managed to say, locking eyes with Castiel and hoping the inevitable climax  was clear in his expression.

Castiel sped up his movements, nodding in understanding. "I am with you, Dean," he said, his gaze gentle. "We will finish together."

It only took a moment for Castiel's words to prove true. Dean lost his tenuous grip on his orgasm without warning, coming all over Castiel's fist as the angel stroked him. Either at the same time or a beat later, Dean became aware of the feeling of Castiel's come inside of him, and he collapsed back against the mattress, suddenly overcome with everything. "Whoa," he said, feeling obligated to say something, but not having any of the words he wanted.

"I agree," Castiel said, pulling out of his hunter and falling down beside him, turned to the side so he could see Dean's face. "I understand why my brother wanted to leave Heaven for Earth now. More than ever, I understand."

"Glad I could help," Dean said, huffing a laugh at the instinctual irreverent response. "That was..." He attempted to convey his own amazement, but the words didn't seem to be there. 

"This," Castiel spoke for him, placing a hand on Dean's chest in roughly the same place he'd been holding him down, "is what I imagine it is like to discover true happiness."

Dean glanced to the side, meeting Castiel's eyes. "Yeah," he agreed, shoving aside the part of him the rebelled from sappy moments. "That's exactly it."

Castiel tilted his head down and brushed his lips in a soft kiss along Dean's shoulder, a smile playing on his face. "Sleep now, Dean. We have as long as we want to talk in the morning."

Filled with the knowledge that he had found what Dean was pretty sure was perfection, the elder Winchester drifted off in the arms of his angel, feeling both safe and happy. An all too rare occurrence in his world.


	18. Chapter 18

Dean was making the face Sam privately referred to as the "I'm not pouting because I'm a badass" face. The younger Winchester hid his smile and directed his attention to Gabriel, who was attempting to convince Dean to cook again.

"Dude, you can't just demand food from me," Dean was protesting. "I'm not your personal chef. Snap up your own damn dinner."

Gabriel was genuinely pouting, and batting his eyes at Dean in a way that Sam would have been jealous of if it hadn't looked so ridiculous. "Pretty please?" Gabriel's voice was dripping in thick sugary syrup, which only added to the comedic value of the scene for Sam.

"Why do you care if I cook?" Dean asked, mystified. "You can literally create anything I could make in significantly less time."

"It's not the same," Gabriel countered, although that wasn't really an explanation.

Castiel laid a hand on Dean's shoulder and said, "I greatly enjoyed your cooking before."

Dean visibly deflated, letting the debate go. "All right, fine. Burgers again?"

Sam barely managed to hide his smile as his brother looked to him, nodding in answer to the question. The fact that Castiel could defuse Dean so quickly and get his way was more than hilarious, but it was also intensely sweet, and Sam was both amused by and happy for his brother.

"We can all cook together this time!" Gabriel enthused, clapping his hands together. As he did so, a gigantic chef's toque and apron appeared on everyone in the room.

Dean immediately ripped his new attire off, glaring at the archangel. "If you want me to cook, there will be absolutely no stupid costumes."

Gabriel sighed, as though put upon by the demand, and snapped his fingers, removing the chef's attire from the room. "Fine. How can we help?"

Pointing at Gabriel and Sam, Dean ordered, "Salad duty. Lots of different colors, and  bacon, otherwise we're not eating it. If you finish that, I'll get you started on the fries." Turning to Castiel, he said, "You can help me with the burgers, if you want."

Castiel nodded eagerly, and trailed behind Dean as the older Winchester began collecting what he needed.

"I'm sorry," Sam interrupted, a little surprised, "but you actually want us to make salad for dinner?"

"You'd bitch about it if there wasn't salad," Dean said, completely confident in this conclusion. "Plus, salad isn't a heinous side to burgers and fries as long as there's enough peppers, tomatoes, and bacon to outweigh the lettuce crap."

Sam snorted and lifted his hands in a mockery of a surrender pose. "All right, fine. One multi-colored salad, coming up." He moved to the fridge, Gabriel at his heels. The fridge was stocked with all of the freshest ingredients, which was tantalizing. Sam wasn't much of a cook himself, he knew how, but didn't enjoy it the way Dean did, but the array of salad ingredients that looks fresh out of the ground had him practically salivating.

"Here, hold these," Sam instructed, reaching into the fridge to grab various items and deposit them into Gabriel's waiting arms. Lettuce, three different colors of pepper, tomatoes, and carrots. The two of them moved to the counter, where a cutting board appeared before Sam could even ask for it.

"What else do you need?" Gabriel asked, looking at the array of vegetables curiously.

"Uh..." Sam thought about it for a moment. "Garbanzo beans, and some cheese, probably. We need to cook and crumble the bacon too."

Gabriel snapped his fingers, providing a block of mozzarella and a bowl of garbanzo beans. "There you go. I'll get started on the bacon."

"Only if you don't eat it all," Sam warned, raising an eyebrow at the archangel.

"How dare you!" Gabriel's pretended offense wasn't even remotely believable, but by the grin on his face he knew it. "I'll be good, I swear."

On the other side of the kitchen, by the grill, Dean had Castiel rolling several types of cheeses together into little balls while he added spices to the meat. "These are going to be awesome," Dean stated, looking proud of himself. "I just need a little..." He trailed off, glancing at the spice rack Castiel had set out for him and frowning a little when he didn't see what he wanted.

"What do you need?" Castiel asked, looking up with concern.

"Cayenne pepper." Dean blinked as the bottle appeared in his hand, the bright red seasoning ready to be added to the beef. "Sweet, thanks." He unscrewed the lid and added a few dashes, then reached into the bowl to blend the spice in with everything else.

"Cooking seems therapeutic," Castiel mused, looking between Dean and Sam and Gabriel. The latter two were giggling about something, which Castiel assumed was related to the chunks of pepper in Sam's hair. He presumed it was funny, at least.

Dean shrugged. "It can be. I like it because I'm good at it, and there's something satisfying about eating something you've made. Plus, I'm enough of a self-centered asshole to be proud when someone eats something I've made and practically has an orgasm."

"You primarily cook for Sam, do you not?" Castiel asked, his expression clearly confused.

Dean stopped in place, turning to give Castiel a disturbed look. "Okay, point taken. Never using that expression again. Still, you know what I mean, right? Seeing people enjoy something you made is rewarding."

"That I do understand," Castiel agreed. He was about to speak again, when Gabriel suddenly went rigid, his grace sending out an alarm that made Castiel's arm hair stand on end. "What's going on?" He demanded, full attention on his brother.

"Nothing. I'll be back soon." Gabriel vanished, leaving behind two bewildered Winchesters and a worried angel.

"What was that?" Sam demanded, turning to look at Castiel.

"I am not certain," Castiel said, his brow furrowing. "I suppose we will find out when he returns."

Dean definitely didn't look satisfied with that response, but he shrugged and went back to burgers. "Well, dinner won't cook itself. Sam, you good to finish the salad and do the fries?"

"Uh, yeah, sure," Sam replied distantly, starring at the space Gabriel had just vacated. What had that been about? Gabriel was unpredictable, sure, but not because of a tendency to up and vanish for no reason. Something had to be wrong.

Castiel's head snapped up, and he said in a rush, "Gabriel is calling me. I will return." With that, he too vanished.

"Okay, what the hell?" Dean demanded, turning to face his brother. "Something bad is happening. They wouldn't just ditch us. Gabriel, maybe, if he had a reason, but Cas doesn't act like that."

"It's out of character for Gabe too," Sam insisted. "I know he can be flighty, but he doesn't just disappear for no reason. You're right; something's going on."

Both brothers waited for a beat, but nothing changed. Dean sighed heavily. "I guess in the meantime we finish dinner. Although, if they miss this meal, tough. They aren't getting a re-do."

Sam nodded, not really listening. He had already been concerned, but Castiel's vanishing act made everything worse. Dean was right, that was even more out of character for Castiel than it was for Gabriel. The only question now was what the hell had made them both so jumpy.

* * *

 

"You want to do _what_?!" Bobby demanded, staring with incredulity at his sometimes-friend. "How the hell is that going to help?"

John's expression was dark. "We've run out of leads on land," he reminded the older hunter. "If we get a boat and go out there, we may be able to actually find out what happened."

"Or we could drown," Bobby countered, rolling his eyes. "Or get captured by whatever's got the boys, or any number of other things. It's. A. Bad. Idea." He punctuated each word of the last sentence with a finger jab in John's direction.

"Never pegged you as being afraid of a little water," John mused, looking down at his notes with feigned disinterest.

Bobby scoffed. "I don't know what's got you thinking you can get away with calling me coward, Winchester, but it must be an additive of them stupid pills you've been taking. Sam and Dean have been looking for you for  _years_ , and now you want me to sign of on their daddy running off to get himself killed? Sure, that'll go over just great when they get back."

"What if they never come back?" John challenged, the genuine fear showing in his eyes.

"They seemed pretty confident they'd be back for the car in the note," Bobby pointed out. "Maybe they'll get away, maybe they won't. You really think going out to die at sea is going to make a difference?"

"Then what do you suggest?" John huffed, leaning back in his chair. "Because I've run out of ideas, and I'm not hearing any fresh input from you either."

Bobby shrugged. "You run out of friends? There's a whole world out there of hunters that know all sorts of different things. Turns out that when you have contacts, you can learn stuff."

John glared at Bobby, not appreciating the sarcasm. "Who do you suggest I call?" He asked, his tone frosty.

"With that tone? Nobody." Bobby snorted and shook his head. "I'd say Jim, at a minimum. The guy knows a lot about everything, and he can put my library to shame. In certain categories, anyway."

John actually seemed to be considering the suggestion. "That's not a bad idea," he allowed. "Maybe Caleb too, just in case. We could use an extra set of hands."

"To do what?" Bobby raised an eyebrow. "Caleb's good, but you ain't got anything to shoot at yet. What good is he going to do you?"

John ignored him, digging his cell phone out and scrolling through his phone book. "Jim is a good idea, but it'll take him a couple days to even get here from Minnesota. I don't know where the hell Caleb's at."

"He was in Boise a few weeks ago," Bobby informed him. "Dunno where he went from there. He only checks in with me when he needs something." Caleb was much easier to get along with than John, as far as Bobby was concerned, but he was also a lone wolf type. He only worked with other people when he knew he couldn't handle something alone. He was enough younger than John that Sam and Dean had never really seen him as an authority figure, but old enough that he wasn't a peer either. Jim and Bobby, by contrast, had been the boys' honorary uncles at various points in their lives when John needed the support system just in case.

John tapped his thumbnail on his phone, considering. "I guess it couldn't hurt to call Jim and see if he at least has an idea about what could have happened."

Bobby sighed, pulling up the other chair and sitting down. "Fine, call him then and ask. If he's got nothing, we'll come up with another plan."

The look on John's face suggested he was still perfectly willing to go out into the ocean, but Bobby wasn't planning to let him. They'd find the boys another way.

* * *

 

The burgers were just coming off the grill and the fries emerging from the oven when Gabriel and Castiel simultaneously reappeared in the kitchen, startling both Winchesters badly.

"What the hell, man?" Dean said, glancing at Gabriel before turning to unabashedly stare at Castiel. "What happened? Where have you been?"

"It was just a misunderstanding, boys, don't worry about it," Gabriel announced, the casualness of his voice sounding forced. He peeked at their cooking results and grinned. "So, time to eat?"

"You're not getting off the hook that easily," Sam chided him, moving the pan of fries out of the archangel's reach. "What happened?"

Gabriel shook his head. "I know you're curious, but seriously, don't worry about it. Can we eat? I'm starving."

"You don't need to eat," Sam reminded him, dumping the fries into a dish and picking up the salad bowl with his newly freed hand. "We do though, so maybe we can pry answers out of you two once we settle down in the dining room." Sam threw Dean a pointed look, and his brother nodded in response. They weren't going to let the angels off the hook. Something was going on.

"Everything is fine," Castiel protested, following them to the dining room. His protestation sounded even less genuine than Gabriel's, which only served to solidify their concerns.

Sam and Dean exchanged glances as they walked, both feeling uncomfortable and wary. It wasn't like the angels to lie to them. They were hiding on an island no one could even see, so what could possibly have gone wrong?


	19. Chapter 19

John and Bobby had spent the night driving a few towns over for some promising lore, which turned out to be nothing new. Bobby was a little annoyed at missing out on a night of sleep, and John was just pissed that they still hadn't made any progress. He wanted to go out to see and look for his children, but he had to admit that Bobby was right. It really wasn't a great idea. There were too many variables, and if by some miracles his boys returned to them on their own, they wouldn't appreciate discovering that their father had gotten himself killed by going out on the water looking for them. Still, there really didn't seem to be any other option. Pastor Jim didn't have any ideas, but had told John he'd look into it and get back to him if he found anything. 

Pulling into the motel parking lot, John parked his truck and leaned over to shake Bobby's shoulder. He'd let the older man sleep, even though he was just as exhausted, because he knew from experience that Bobby was a bear to deal with when he was tired.

"Bobby, we're back at the motel. C'mon, time for actual beds." John turned to pull the door handle, only to freeze at the sight of the car he'd parked next to. How had he been so distracted pulling into the parking lot that he'd failed to notice the Impala? What the hell was it doing here? Maybe it was a coincidence. It couldn't be his boys' car - that was safe at Bobby's. At least, it was supposed to be.

Out of the truck in an instant, John peered in the windows of the sleek black car, examining it for proof that it was the car he'd raised his children in. The interior looked right. He wished he still had a key on him to check the trunk for weapons, but he didn't carry a spare. A beat later, he realized the obvious solution and moved to the back to check the license plate. CNK80Q3 - this was their Impala. The boys had switched plates a year or so ago to avoid further run-ins with law enforcement.

"What the hell," Bobby stated, not bothering to inflect the statement as a question. He was blinking blearily at the Impala, clearly unsure if he was awake.

"I was going to ask you that," John agreed, stepping back to look at the other hunter. "It's theirs. How'd it get from South Dakota all the way down here?"

Bobby double checked the license plate, as John had. "I'd imagine the same way it got to South Dakota in the first place. Better question is why." His brow furrowing, Bobby inclined his head towards the room. "Better make sure nothing else has appeared without warning. The Impala's gotta be here for a reason."

The hunters approached the door in tandem, weapons ready. They were prepared to find just about anything, even though they had no idea what to imagine behind the door. John slipped the key into the lock, turned it, and pushed the door open, both John and Bobby bursting into the room with practiced formation.

Sam and Dean, a little rusty in their hunting reflexes from having been free of the concern of being attacked for so long, sluggishly woke and sat up, instinctively reached for weapons they didn't have. Sam oriented himself first, confusion crossing his face initially as he registered the motel room, then complete shock replacing it as he recognized his father. "Dad?"

Sam's query jolted Dean completely awake, and he swiveled his head to take in John and Bobby standing in the doorway, weapons still raised and frozen in place. Dean's mouth opened, probably to repeat Sam's question, when his forehead creased and he turned to Sam, his expression urgent. "Why are we here?" He demanded of his brother, concern filling his eyes.

Catching up to Dean in an instant, Sam's face changed to match his brother's, equally concerned about the sudden change in scenery. "What did you do?" He demanded of the hunters in the doorway. "How did you find us?" It had to have been them. How else would they have left the island? Dean turned to face John and Bobby as well, seeming to agree with Sam's assessment, and looking equally displeased.

That snapped John out of his shock, and he set his gun down to retrieve the holy water from his back pocket and the silver knife from the sheath attached to his belt. "We didn't do anything! You and the Impala just appeared at our motel!" He snapped, coming forward and handing each implement to one of his sons. Sam got the water, and Dean got the knife. "Test yourselves and swap," he demanded.

Sam and Dean obeyed by instinct, each brother utilizing the weapon, wincing, then switching with their sibling.

"Satisfied?" Dean demanded, pressing his thumb on the small cut in his arm to keep it from bleeding.

Sam tossed the knife aside, copying his brother's motion to keep from bleeding on the bed. "If you didn't do this..." he started, trailing off, as various scenarios began to occur to him. He hated the idea that something might have happened to Gabriel and Castiel, or that for some reason the angels might have disposed of them back on the mainland. Those seemed to be their only options though. Either the angels had decided to get rid of them for some reason, or the angels were in serious trouble. Neither prospect was good.

"Where the hell have you two been?" Bobby demanded, putting away his gun and moving further into the room.

"It doesn't matter," Sam replied, determined to keep the experience a secret. It was nobody's business what he and Dean had been doing with Gabriel and Castiel, especially if the angels had disposed of them. It was private, and he didn't intend to share it. The look on Dean's face suggested they were on the same wavelength on that front. Glaring at John, Sam returned the demand. "So, Dad, you finally came out of the woodwork?" He probably should have been happier to see his father, but he was too busy hiding his hurt at waking up away from the island to bother being excited by the fact that John had deigned to rejoin the world.

"You were gone," John said shortly. "I wasn't going to just abandon you to whatever held you hostage."

"We weren't being held hostage," Dean scoffed, finally moving to get out of bed. He nearly tripped over his duffel bag, laying right beside the bed. Sam's was next to it. Dean spared a brief second to consider the meaning of them being sent back to the mainland with all of their stuff before he reached down to pull a change of clothes out of his bag. He moved towards the bathroom, intent on changing. He could formulate a plan when he felt a little more like himself.

Sam quickly followed suit, pushing himself out of bed and digging on his own duffel for a flannel and a pair of jeans.

"Your note said you couldn't leave wherever you were," Bobby reminded them, his eyes narrowing. "If you weren't hostage, what the hell was going on?"

Dean emerged from the bathroom, looking more like a hunter than he had the entire time they'd been on the island. "It was a unique situation. Doesn't matter anymore, since apparently we're here now. It's between me and Sam, and we don't want to talk about it, all right? I want to know why our father thought it was a good idea to disappear off the face of the earth for  _several years_." He folded his arms and gave John an impressive glare.

Sam actually felt proud of Dean, both for being willing to shut down any conversation about the island and for actually challenging John. Once upon a time, that would never have been the case. The younger Winchester waited to move to the bathroom, intent on hearing whatever his father might consider a suitable response.

"There were things happening I didn't want either of you involved in," John said, his tone gruff. "It was better for me to work alone."

Sam rolled his eyes and went to the bathroom. "It's a miracle you aren't dead," he called out as he left the room.

Dean nodded, inclining his head in his brother's direction. "He's got a point. Hunting alone is a dumbass move. If you were so intent on being independent, you should've at least kept Bobby or someone in the loop so that we'd at least have known you were okay."

"You knew I was alive," John pointed out, not seeming to grasp the issue.

Emerging from the bathroom, Sam felt a little uncomfortable it what he normally wore as a hunter. It wasn't that he had dressed differently on the island, but he definitely hadn't dressed with the hunting life in mind. He missed the free and relaxed atmosphere on the island, and he'd only been gone from it for a few hours, as far as he knew. He needed to get Dean alone so they could talk about it, but the odds of Bobby and John letting the two of them out of their sight any time soon were slim.

"Only because you occasionally sent us just enough information to throw our lives into jeopardy," Sam said wryly. Occasional coordinates leading to dangerous hunts didn't qualify as communication.

John gave Bobby an exasperated look, but the older hunter just shrugged. "Don't look at me; you know I'm on their side on this one."

Both brothers gave Bobby a grateful look, and folded their arms in unison. "So," Dean said, "are you planning on sticking around? Or now that you know we're fine are you planning to disappear again?"

John hesitated, unsure.

Bobby scowled, disappointed.

Sam sighed, resigned.

Dean glared, resentful.

"Hang on," John preempted any arguments from the other three in the room. "I'm not going to hunt with you two. It's too dangerous. I'll stay in touch from now on though, all right?"

Sam looked skeptical. "Why should we believe that?"

John shrugged. "Either way, you can't come with me. I don't want to risk completely losing you again like whatever the hell happened here though, so you bet your ass I'm going to be keeping a closer eye on you."

Dean didn't respond, but he looked conflicted. On the one hand, it was so good to see his father again. He was relieved that the man was all right, pissed that he'd essentially ignored them for so long, and distracted by thoughts of Castiel and what could have happened. It was too much, and he was having trouble picking something to focus on.

"Dean, you hungry?" Sam asked, giving his brother a pointed look. They needed to figure out what had abruptly resulted in their return to the mainland before anything else.

"Yes, food," Dean agreed, shooting Sam a thankful glance. He and Sam had grown comfortable enough with the angels, themselves, and each other while on the island that the idea of actually talking about whatever had happened with Sam was appealing, not repulsive the way it might have been before the island. He needed to discuss this with Sam, and thankfully his younger brother needed that conversation just as much.

John and Bobby exchanged glances, clearly sensing the desire of the boys to be alone. "We need some shut eye," Bobby said carefully, eyeing the two of them. "How about you two head down the street and get some breakfast, then bring us back some when you're done. We'll catch a few winks in the meantime."

Sam gave Bobby the most grateful look he could muster. "Thanks, Bobby. You'll both be here when we get back?" He looked at John specifically as he asked, not trusting his father to stay put.

John raised a hand tiredly. "I swear. I'm not driving anymore right now, no matter what. Too tired."

Dean already had his jacket on and was standing by the door. "C'mon, Sammy," he prompted, motioning to his brother. "I need food." In his head, the thought that diner food would never match what Gabriel could snap up for them rendered the prospect of eating less appealing, but he tried to shove that away. It wasn't going to do either of them any good to mope.

Sam followed his brother out the door, stopping dead as soon as he saw the Impala. "So us, our stuff, and the Impala, all delivered directly to where Dad and Bobby were?" He asked, half to himself and half to Dean.

Dean's hand went to his pocket instinctively, discovering the Impala keys in his pocket. "I don't know what to think," he admitted, staring at his car rather than at his brother.

The diner was walking distance, so they left the Impala behind, reluctantly on Dean's part. It only took a block before Sam broke the silence. "What do you think happened?" He asked quietly.

"Hell if I know," Dean sighed, not having the words to properly expressed the maelstrom of emotions he had at the moment. "I went to sleep in, well, in Cas' bed." He shrugged, not feeling as embarrassed by the admission as he felt like he should be.

Sam shrugged, not willing to allow his brother to feel embarrassed. "I was in Gabe's," he added. "Do you think this has something to do with wherever they went last night?"

Dean threw up his hands, groaning as he did so. "I don't know. I don't know! I just don't know what to think. There wasn't anything to suggest they wanted us gone, right? Cas sure as hell didn't seem inclined to send me away. I mean, he never answered my questions about whatever freaked them out last night, but he definitely didn't seem like he was about to just send me away. What if something's really wrong with them?"

"That's what I'm worried about," Sam admitted, his pace quickening as he worried. "Gabe was definitely worried about something, but he didn't seem different towards me. Almost more attentive, not less. Nothing to suggest I was about to get unceremoniously dumped." He scowled, looking annoyed by his own terminology.

"Exactly!" Dean agreed, ignoring what would have once been an opportunity to tease his brother. They were in the same boat, and there was nothing funny about it. They were almost to the diner, but food was the last thing on his mind. "If they wanted us gone, neither of them would have been too shy to say something. Something is  _wrong_."

"You know what we have to do," Sam said, grabbing the door of the diner and pulling it open, stepping aside to let Dean pass first.

Dean turned as he entered, giving his brother a quizzical look. "What?"

"Pray," Sam said, as if it was the obvious solution. "If we pray to Gabe and Cas, they'll be able to hear us. They might even show up and give us some answers. Or, if they're in trouble, at least they'll know we're worried."

Dean sighed, sliding into a booth. "What difference will that make? If something's wrong with them, knowing that we're worried isn't going to do squat."

Sam huffed. "Okay, yes, but what if they're fine? Maybe they'll actually give us answers. What do we have to lose?"

Picking up a menu, Dean tossed the other at Sam and nodded once. "All right, fine. Order first, then pray. That's a thing, right? Praying before you eat?"

Sam snorted. "Gabe would think that was funny," he commented, the context of the comment making his smile fade again quickly.

"Look, whatever happened, we're going to figure it out," Dean promised. "If they got rid of us on purpose or not, we're going to find out exactly what happened and why. I'm not giving up, so you'd better not either."

Sam nodded, looking grateful. "I won't," he promised in return. "We'll get answers."

"Damn straight." Dean cracked open the menu, resigned to the fact that nothing in the building was going to measure up to Gabriel's grace made food.


	20. Chapter 20

_Uh...Dear Cas...I mean Castiel...I guess, I'm not sure how formal this has to be to work._

_Formality is a thing with prayer, right?_

_I wouldn't know, to be honest. I'm only hoping you can hear me. Sam's the one who prayed as a kid, but you already knew that._

_What the hell, Cas?_

_Does swearing like negate a prayer's effectiveness? I really don't know what I'm doing, obviously._

_So much has happened in such a short time, and all I can think about it the fact that you aren't here. What's going on, Cas? Why did you leave? Or, I guess, why'd you send me away?_

_Something happened. I know something happened._

_Please, just talk to me. Tell me what's going on. If you don't, I have to assume the worst._

_That's it, I guess. Please, Cas, just answer. That's all I'm asking._

* * *

 

_Gabriel, you know I don't pray often anymore. You know, because you've always been the one I prayed to, and I haven't done it since Jess. I haven't really needed to._

_Does that tell you how serious I am? How worried? It should._

_Where are you, Gabe?_

_Something has to be wrong. I know you wouldn't just abandon me without explanation. Please, if you have any way to send me a message or anything, you need to let me know what's going on._

_Or, if you really did just want to be rid of me, I deserve to be told to my face._

_I don't think that's it. Or at least, I don't want to believe it. Either way, I need an explanation._

_You have to still care - you and Cas sent us to Dad and Bobby. You wouldn't have done that if you didn't care._

_I'm clinging to that right now. I need you, Gabe. I miss you. It's only been a day, but I can't imagine not having you around._

_Please, tell me what's going on._

* * *

 

"SAM!" Dean yelled in warning, ducking a butcher's knife as it whizzed towards his head. His little brother managed to pull back in time to avoid the collapsing chandelier.

"Whoa!" Sam exclaimed, leaping back even though he was already out of the crashing light's path. "Okay, that was a little too Opera Populaire for me."

The witch that was hurling everything she could think of at them hissed something in another language and fled the room, leaving behind a trail of cursed fire. At least, Dean assumed it was cursed. Normal fire wasn't pink and green, usually. Sam's comment caught up with him and he blinked at his brother. "Dude, Phantom of the Opera?"

A broad grin split Sam's face. "The fact that you knew that means you lose all teasing privileges for at least a month."

Dean considered arguing with him, but had to concede the point. "My fault for letting you pick the movie last time," he grunted, looking around for a way to smother the fire.

Sam tossed him some ratty kitchen towels and moved towards the sink, hoping that the dilapidated house still had running water. "Last time you picked we ended up watching The Mummy again."

Looking vaguely insulted, Dean lay a towel over the fire and stomped on it a few times, successfully eliminating part of the blaze, though not all of it. "What's wrong with The Mummy?" He protested.

Sam rolled his eyes. "Nothing, except for the fact that it's on TV like every other week."

That was true, so Dean didn't argue. Besides, the musical about the serial killer with the mask that Sam had insisted on watching had actually been pretty good. "Any luck with the water?" He said instead, putting another towel down and hissing as the remaining tongues of flame came a little too close to his pant leg.

Sam cursed and shook his head. "Nothing. You clear enough space to get through?"

"Probably," Dean guessed, then tested the assumption by jumping over the patch with the towels. "That's as good as it's going to get."

Sam strode forward and imitated Dean's leap, just in time to see the cursed fire spring back to life and eat through the towels. "We might need to put that out before we leave," Sam mused. Leaving it to burn seemed irresponsible.

Dean rolled his eyes, taking off after the witch. She was at least a hundred years old, according to Sam's research, and Dean had no earthly idea how the crazy old bat managed to move so quickly. Or why she'd murdered almost fifteen people, but the reigning hypothesis was that she was crazy and bored. It seemed pretty likely given the first hand evidence Dean was seeing.

A telling cackle sounded from upstairs, and Dean cursed this time, rounding the corner to discover the stairs were coated in boiling tar. "The hell?" He complained, gesturing at the mess to Sam as his brother skidded to a halt beside him.

"Ugh." Sam winced. "What now?"

Dean pursed his lips. "We make the fire bigger," he decided.

Sam shook his head. "Too risky," he countered. "We don't have any way to contain it, and neither of us know magic well enough to deal with cursed fire."

Sighing heavily, Dean shrugged. "What's your plan?"

Once upon a time, Sam might have made a joke about prayer. Now, it wouldn't have been funny. "We've got the stuff for the witch catching spell in the trunk, right?"

Dean scowled. "That takes twenty minutes to set up, man."

Sam threw up his hands. "Then I don't have any ideas!"

At that moment, the witch reentered the room by way of the untrustworthy ceiling, collapsing to the ground behind them in a tangled heap of floorboards and plaster. She groaned and twitched a little, then ceased moving.

The brothers exchanged a glance, then by unspoken agreement, Dean moved forward to check if the witch was dead. He shook his head, fingers on her pulse. "Still alive," he confirmed.

Sam pulled out his phone. "I'm calling Earl. He and the coven can deal with this, now that she's not literally shooting fire." The brothers had originally been called to this hunt because the local light magic coven had needed help handling the psychotic old witch. She'd apparently come to their town because she could sense their magic, and begun killing the townspeople soon after. The coven had no idea why, and were horrified by every element of the affair, so they'd called hunters.

Dean examined the woman while Sam talked to the coven leader on the phone. They had the power to bind her so neither brother would have to kill a (mostly) defenseless woman, and that should solve the problem. Dean didn't make a habit of shooting unconscious enemies, particularly the more human of their foes. Even if said foe was a murdering hundred year old witch.

"Earl is on his way with a few of the others," Sam confirmed, sticking his phone in his pocket. "Now, what are we going to do about the fire?"

* * *

 

Dean hadn't been much of a drinker on the island, mostly because he didn't need to be. Now that he was hunting again, he and Sam both frequently hit the bar after a case was over. The witch was in the custody of other magic practitioners who were going to take it from there, so he had permission to get drunk. Sam usually stopped before he was legally drunk, and ensured Dean was aware enough to call him if he needed him before going back to the hotel.

That had already happened this evening, so Dean was hunched over the bar by himself, nursing a glass of whiskey. He was already just drunk enough that he didn't feel the need to knock the beverage back with much speed. It had been a little over two weeks since he and Sam had woken up in their father's motel room. Since then, Bobby had returned to South Dakota, John had vanished again, and Sam and Dean had gone back to hunting. To be fair, none of them knew where John was, but he was actually calling to talk to them once a week. He seemed all right, and their relationship was probably the healthiest it had been in, well, ever, so that was something.

Sam was still praying. Daily, as far as Dean could tell. Dean hadn't prayed since that day at the diner. If once didn't do the trick, why the hell would fifty times be any better? Castiel clearly had better things to do. Well, no, Dean didn't actually believe that. He couldn't, not knowing Castiel as well as he felt he did. Hell, he even knew Gabriel better than that. Something had to have happened to them. Dean wanted to say he was resigned to never knowing what had happened to the angels, but he wasn't. Not at all. He felt the absence like a gaping wound, and he had no idea what to do about it. He'd never been close enough to anyone other than his father, Sam, and maybe Bobby or Pastor Jim at any point during his life to feel a palpable sense of longing when they were absent. Not that any of those relationships were anything like what he shared with Castiel, but it was the closest possible comparison. Sam was probably the best example, especially when he'd been in California, but that was the biggest difference. Dean had known where his brother was and that he was safe, even happy. Dean didn't have a clue where Castiel was, let alone whether he was safe or happy. Dean sure as hell wasn't happy, and neither was Sam. They were back in the swing of hunting, and they were the same as ever with each other, but they each had a gigantic angel sized hole that hadn't existed before.

Maybe it was the whiskey Dean elected to finish off like a shot, or maybe it was the devil may care attitude he'd acquired throughout the evening, but he decided to pray again. Just one more time.

_Cas, I know I haven't prayed in a while. I'm struggling here, man._

_Well, I'm drunk, so that's why I'm doing this at all._

_You...Cas, do you even know what you mean to me? Like, at all?_

_I don't talk about this stuff. You know, I hurt you before we ever got past a kiss because I'm so damn repressed. But you made me be better at all that stuff._

_I miss you, Cas. You hear me? I miss you. I never would have said that before, not to anyone, no matter how true. Do you understand what I'm praying at you, blindly hoping you might hear me and still care enough to listen? Cas, I don't just miss you._

_I love you, you stupid winged moron. I don't know why the hell I do, since I'm stuck here without you and not knowing why, but I love you._

_I love that ridiculous coat you insist on wearing, how stupidly bright your eyes are, and how intense you are about everything, like everything I ever say means more than you can possibly express. You made me feel like I was your world, Cas. I never told you that. I never told anyone that._

_If I was your world, then why the hell am I drunk in a bar in middle-of-nowhere Missouri, chasing away the remains of a hunt?_

_The saddest part, Cas? The saddest part is it doesn't matter that you abandoned me to the life I had before, because I'm still gone on you anyway. I always will be. You ruined me, Cas, and you left me, and I'm always going to be waiting for you, no matter what I do._

_Please..._

"Sir," a gentle voice interrupted him, "are you all right?"

Dean was confused, his alcohol addled mind taking a moment to register the question. At the same time, he became aware of the wet tracks on each cheek, where just a few tears had managed to escape without his notice.

"Sir," the woman prompted him, her concern more prominent now.

"I'm fine," Dean said, out of habit, not honesty. "Uh, I'm done. I'll pay my tab now." He needed to get out of here. He needed to sleep it off, and never get this sloshed again. He was done embarrassing himself, even if no one was listening.

* * *

 

"Hey, Gabe," Sam said conversationally, puttering around the motel room putting things away and generally preparing to check out in the morning. "We finished the witch hunt today, and we're both fine. Dean's at the bar still, which worries me, but he always comes back in one piece, so I'm trusting him not to do something reckless. We both miss you guys like crazy. Dean won't even talk about it anymore. It's like before, you know? Before the island, before everything. We talked a lot, that first couple days back, but now, it's like he's lost hope. I'm starting to." He paused, a pair of socks in his hands.

"I don't want to," Sam clarified, continuing to speak out loud although no one was present. "I want to believe you had a reason, and that you're coming back, but it's been weeks, Gabe! How do I know you aren't dead? I don't think you just ditched us though. Mostly because I know you, and if you wanted me gone, you would have already come back to make me stop annoying you with all this prayer. I wish you would come back, Gabe, you have no idea. I promise, a year's supply of gummy bears if you just let me know you're okay."

Sam paused, half hoping something might happen at the promise of candy. It wasn't the first time he'd joked about a bribe, and as usual, nothing changed. He sighed, and put the socks in the duffel bag. "Dad is hunting demons now, almost exclusively it sounds like. It's dangerous, but at least he's talking to us now. That's one good thing that's come out of this whole mess."

Blinking rapidly to stave off unwanted emotions, Sam huffed and shoved a few random odds and ends into the duffel's pockets. "I haven't signed up for any new classes since I passed the last set. You were always so distracting when I tried to study. I think school reminds me of you now for some reason, which is silly. I should keep doing classes. Dean wants me to, because he knows it's important to me, but I don't see the point right now. I hope that changes. I do like the discipline of having classes to pay attention to. It's just hard to focus on anything right now."

Zipping the duffel closed, Sam moved towards the bathroom. "Sorry, I don't mean to make it sound like I'm blaming you. I mean, I do, a little bit, but I have to believe you had a reason. I just wish you'd hurry the hell up and explain it to me. I still love you though. Don't even think for a minute I've stopped." Sam had originally added an "I love you" to a prayer by accident, but after the first time had included it every time since, realizing it was undeniably true. So what if he hadn't been able to say it to Gabriel's face? He meant it just the same, and one day he would get to say it in person. He had to believe that.

The sound of the motel door opening and closing prevented Sam from continuing. Whispering a quick, "Goodnight, Gabe," Sam headed back out into the main room, observing his brother's morose state. "You okay, man?"

"Just peachy," Dean muttered, throwing himself onto the bed closest to the door without bothering to get undressed. "Remind me to stop drinking after hunts. Bad idea."

Sam raised an eyebrow. "Would you actually listen to me?"

Dean paused, turning to cock an eyebrow at his brother. "...probably not." The two brothers shared a smirk of amusement, knowing it to be the truth, before Dean's mood reverted and he sighed, sinking into the mattress.

Resigned to dealing with his brother once again, Sam moved over and started taking off Dean's boots.

"You don't have to," Dean muttered, the words half obscured by the arm he'd thrown over his face.

"I know, but you'll be glad I did in the morning," Sam informed him. He was used to taking care of his brother when he'd had too much to drink, no matter what mood it accentuated in the older man. Today, it appeared to have capitalized on how much Dean missed Castiel. Even if they didn't talk about it, Sam would have had to have been blind to miss how much his brother was hurting. He wanted to say something, anything, to comfort him, but there just weren't words that would help.

"Thanks," Dean replied, giving Sam a gesture that might have been supposed to be a thumbs up.

Sam chuckled softly and moved towards his own bed. "Everything will be better tomorrow," he offered, knowing it was weak, but needing to offer something.

"We can dream," was all Dean said in response.


	21. Chapter 21

"Remember when Dad first told us vampires were real?" Dean asked, looking over Sam's shoulder at a satellite map with a displeased expression.

"Yeah...?" Sam dragged out the word, glancing at his brother in the periphery of his vision without moving his head.

Dean huffed and straightened, moving over to the duffel to make sure he had everything he needed. "I wish he'd been kidding."

Sam snorted, nodding his agreement. "Wouldn't that be nice," he muttered. "Still, at least there's only four of them."

"That we know of," Dean emphasized, pointing at Sam with a machete. "Reports have been kind of sketchy on that."

"So maybe six, tops. Four is more likely, given their patterns," Sam replied with a shrug, unconcerned. "We've handled more."

Dean rolled his eyes. "Not with this much ground to cover." Their research had led them to determine the nest of vampires was hiding out on the wide expanse of abandoned farmland located just outside town. It was about twelve acres, and there were nine different structures they would have to search and clear before they could call it a day.

"Point," Sam allowed. "We could have called Bobby, if you were that worried about it. I mean, we still could. He could be here by morning, probably." They were only seven or eight hours from Sioux Falls, depending on who was driving. The plan was currently to head out to the farm at dawn, to take advantage of the bright sun the weather report was promising.

Dean shook his head. "Nah, you're right. We can handle it. It's just going to take forever."

That, Sam had to admit, was probably accurate. Twelve acres was a lot of land, and in the daylight, the vampires would see them coming. They didn't really have a way to avoid that. They'd already acquired the dead man's blood and loaded up the tranquilizer guns though, so hopefully that would help them take care of enemies that weren't quite close enough to decapitate.

Closing the laptop, Sam stood up and stretched. "I'm going to bed. You got everything ready?"

Dean surveyed the assortment of weapons briefly before nodding. "Near as I can tell," he confirmed. "I'm going to load the car first."

Sam nodded his understanding and headed for his bed. They'd been keeping themselves busy with hunt after hunt, trying to avoid thinking about their missing lovers. Sam was exhausted, but not so much that he was endanger himself or his brother in a hunt. He knew better than that. He was just exhausted enough that bed sounded awesome. Besides, in about six hours he'd have to wake up and go traipse all over an abandoned farm looking for vampires, so sleep was kind of a necessity. As Sam collapsed into bed, he took note of the door closing and Dean toeing off his boots before collapsing onto his own bed. Reassured that everything was in order for the night, Sam drifted off.

* * *

 

Even though Sam ran often for exercise, basic cardio for a workout was completely different than hurtling through a field of dead grass at his top speed to escape unnaturally fast blood drinking psychopaths.

To be specific, ten unnaturally fast blood drinking psychopaths. Definitely more than four, or even six. Ten was not what they'd been expecting.

Dean, only a few paces behind Sam, due to the length of his legs more than anything, was cursing a constant stream of increasingly creative profanity as he ran. They'd cleared the first half of the property before they'd run into trouble. The vampires had been waiting for them inside one of the barns, all strategically hiding in order to box the brothers in as soon as they'd entered. That was when there'd been twelve of them. Dean and Sam had each killed one before getting the hell out of there. They still had the tranquilizers, but running for your life wasn't something that resulted in great aim, and staying alive had been more important than trying to fight for their lives right that second.

"SAM!" Dean yelled, veering left towards one of the other structures. If they managed to get some sort of vantage point, no matter how small, they could turn this around. Sam had followed Dean's lead without any hesitation, and they were virtually running in step as they made their way to one of the barns they'd already cleared.

Sam was vaguely aware of the vampires fanning out behind them, but there wasn't anything they could do about that. As he and Dean hurtled into the barn, Sam turned around and whipped out his tranquilizer gun in one fluid motion, shooting two of the vampires dead center in the chest. Dean was right behind him, taking down one more before they were abruptly too close to use the weapons. It was machete time.

Seven vampires was still a hell of a lot to fight, not to mention the fact that the other three were only incapacitated, not dead. Dean managed to take one down before being knocked on his ass by another, swearing and jumping back to his feet, narrowly avoiding being chomped on by the vampire that had tackled him.

Sam was still on his feet, mostly engaging in hand to hand combat with the three vampires that had rushed him. He'd wounded two of them already, but didn't have the room to swing and generate enough force to take off their heads.

A loud yelp of pain cut through the barn, causing the barest of pauses as everyone looked for the source before resuming their own activities. Dean had received a knife wound, which he looked distinctly pissed about. As far as Sam could tell, it was just a slice through his side, not a gut stab or anything that might bleed enough to be dangerous before they could get out.

Even though he knew better, Sam was just distracted enough to completely miss the vampire who'd come up behind him with a mallet, swinging and hitting the back of the hunter's head with enough force to send Sam instantly to his knees. Sam collapsed with a grunt, the vague sensation of blood oozing out of his new head wound alarming him for the split second before everything went dark.

Dean had decapitated the vampire he was fighting with far more force than necessary, screaming his brother's name as he saw the younger man go down. Moving towards him as quickly as possible, terrified about the potential results of that kind of head wound, Dean swung his machete wildly, trying to drive away the remaining vampires from getting anywhere near his wounded brother.

"You cocky bastards," one of the vampires declared, sounding darkly amused. "You really thought two of you was enough?"

Dean ignored him completely, standing in front of his brother with the machete at the ready, glaring at the vampires. "You want him? You gotta get through me."

"That was the plan," another vampire pointed out, smiling at him with an almost disarming amount of charm before launching herself at his throat.

Swinging the machete, Dean managed to slice into her arm, but not take her out entirely. There were five left, not counting the three full of dead man's blood, and Dean knew in an analytical sort of way that he was screwed. He couldn't take out five vampires by himself. As if honing in on his train of thought, the vampires encircled the hunter, eyeing his still bleeding wound like it was a feast they were about to partake in. To be far, Dean supposed that was exactly what they were thinking. He wasn't particularly concerned about his own fate, but he was exceedingly aware that he was all that stood between the vampires and Sam, who hadn't even twitched since going down.

Dean had less than a second to come up with a plan, and other than 'fight like hell,' he didn't have a clue what to do. He adjusted his stance, preparing to take out as many vampires as possible. If luck was on his side, he might just save his brother's life.

Exchanging confident glances, the vampires launched a coordinated attack. Dean ducked as they dove for him, swiping out at the ankles of the closest vampire to him with the machete. The vampire screeched and went down, causing one of his nest to trip over him and fall forward with a pissed off growl. Dean barely had time to feel the relief of his success before the tripped vampire was on his feet again, pushing forward and forcing Dean to back up towards the two vampires rapidly moving in behind him. The one whose ankles he'd all but sliced through was reaching for his ankles now, and the fifth vampire was on his other side, her teeth glinting as she sized him up, confident in the impending victory.

Before Dean could work out his next move, a blinding white light burned through the building, causing the vampires to scream in horrified unison. Dean's arm flew up to cover his eyes, but it didn't seem to be enough. His awareness faded, and he realized he had fallen to his knees beside his brother's body just as he blacked out.

* * *

 

Sam woke first, feeling more refreshed than he had in days, and completely bewildered by the absence of any pain in his head. His hand went to his hair automatically, but there was no wound, no blood, and no sign he'd ever been hurt. The last thing he remembered was blinding pain and a sense of terror for Dean, but a quick glance to his right revealed that Dean was just fine. That glance also made Sam aware of the fact that they were back in the motel room, apparently healthier than they were when they'd left it, if the way he felt was any indication.

The dim murmur of the television was the next thing Sam noticed, and he focused on what seemed to be a local news broadcast. His eyes widened as he realized what he was seeing. "Dean!" He said, his tone urgent.

Dean's eyes snapped open and he almost fell off the bed he sat up so quickly. "Sammy!" He blurted, his eyes wild as he found his brother in the room and took in his uninjured state. "You're...okay?"

Sam reached back to his head again, as if to verify, before nodding. "Apparently. Your side?"

Dean reached for the spot where he'd been cut. "Nothing," he confirmed. "What the hell happened?"

"I was unconscious," Sam pointed out. "You tell me." When Dean opened his mouth, Sam shook his head. "Wait, look at the news first."

Dean glanced at the television, becoming aware for the first time that it was even on. "Holy--" He broke off before completing the phrase. Habits were hard to kick, but Dean tried to avoid things that reminded him of the loss of his angel. He focused instead on the news, which was detailing the breaking news story of a bonfire of decapitated bodies that local authorities had been called out to investigate. Apparently there were concerns of some sort of ritualistic killing, which was small-town-speak for, "We don't know why the hell this happened."

"How many?" Dean asked, his hunting brain coming back into gear.

"Twelve," Sam confirmed. "All of them. They're all dead, and all burned now."

"We need to get out of town," Dean muttered, getting to his feet and beginning to pack rapidly. "Just because we didn't finish the hunt doesn't mean we ain't connected."

"Dean," Sam's soft voice stopped the elder Winchester mid motion. "What happened?"

Dean huffed. "Friggin' blinding white light, Sam, that's what happened. I heard all the vamps scream, then whatever it was knocked me out, and that's it."

Sam had a theory, a stirring of hope in his chest, and resolute certainty that Dean didn't want to hear it. "You know what I'm going to say," he stated instead.

Dean's expression shuttered, and he turned back to his bag. "It wasn't them."

The fact that Dean could even insinuate the angels was something, so Sam chose to let it go. He shifted off the bed and walked over to his laptop, which was open, despite the fact that he was certain he'd closed it. He jostled the track pad out of habit, to see what he'd left open. The web page he revealed was for a bulk order candy company, and the listing was for gummy bears. Sam grinned broadly, absurdly grateful he was facing away from Dean.  _Thank you, Gabe. Thank you, Cas. You saved our lives. I don't know why you left in the first place, but this better mean you're planning to come back at some point._

"What are you making that stupid face for?" Dean asked irritably, throwing a wadded up sock at his brother.

Sam dodged the missile and snatched it up, throwing it back at Dean's head. "Nothing," he dismissed. He bookmarked the webpage and shut down his laptop, putting it in his bag. Dean wasn't ready to consider that Castiel and Gabriel would come back for them, but Sam was more than relieved to know that they hadn't been truly abandoned.


	22. Chapter 22

Sam hummed to himself as he scanned over the row of available six packs in the grocery aisle. Normally he would have just grabbed something and gone straight to the checkout, but they hadn't had any urgent business for a couple of days now, and he felt like enjoying it. Buying slightly nicer beer seemed like an acceptable way to do that. He'd already grabbed an assortment of snacks that would satisfy both him and Dean, and they'd seen ads on television for an Indiana Jones movie marathon that night. It was exactly the right kind of thing to bolster Dean's spirits. He'd been sullen ever since the whole affair with the vampires, unable to admit that the angels had helped them. Sam wasn't going to push it, but his own spirits were plenty bolstered. Leaving a website for bulk candy ordering up on his laptop wasn't an action that spoke of an uncaring archangel, and Sam was content to wait until Gabriel saw fit to reappear. At least, that's what he was telling himself.

Huffing as he realized he'd been staring at the beer for several minutes, Sam reached out and snagged a brand he'd heard good things about that boasted a seasonal flavor. He placed it in the cart and turned to leave the aisle, glancing up to make sure his way was clear.

Gabriel was standing in the center of the aisle, watching him with a fond smile on his face.

Sam was crossing the space between them without a second thought, pulling the archangel into a hug and feeling an immense sense of satisfaction when Gabriel melted into the embrace. "You're back," Sam murmured, the comment not entirely on purpose.

"I'm back," Gabriel confirmed, sounding oddly vulnerable, but with a clear joy in his tone.

Sam allowed the moment of reunion to stretch on just a little longer before he pulled back, looking full on at his archangel's face for a moment. Seeming to come to a decision, he pulled away slightly and slapped Gabriel across the face with his right hand, feeling vindictively pleased as his hand throbbed with the sting of it.

Gabriel stumbled back, looking up with an expression of mild shock and something that seemed oddly like pride. "Nice one, kiddo. I deserved that."

"Damn straight," Sam replied, folding his arms across his chest. He felt as if he was channeling Dean in that moment, though he wasn't certain if that was a good or bad thing. He had no idea how his brother would actually react to the angels being back, and he hoped Dean at least gave Castiel a chance to explain, just as Sam intended to provide Gabriel. Still, at the moment, the confidence he'd learned to present from watching Dean growing up was a comforting mantle to slip on.

Waving his hand dismissively at something behind Sam, Gabriel commented, "You scared a soccer mom when you hit me," with pure amusement in his voice. Straightening a little and looking more like himself, he added, "I know you've got questions. I heard every prayer, Sam. Every single one. I never intended to abandon you, and I'll do whatever I have to to make it right." His smile was bright, and though his tone was serious, he looked every inch the charming and mischievous archangel Sam remembered.

Glancing at the grocery cart, Sam shrugged and turned to Gabriel again. "Well, if you're sticking around I don't need any of this, so why don't you take us somewhere quiet so we can talk." He blinked, anticipating a shift in scenery, and wasn't surprised to abruptly see a quiet park replace the grocery store aisle. 

Taking Sam's hand, Gabriel guided him over to a park bench, pulling the hunter down onto the seat with him. "So, where do you want to start?"

"Are you okay?" Sam asked immediately, all the concerns of his time without Gabriel rushing back, even though the archangel looked completely whole.

Gabriel's expression softened. "I'm fine. Better than, now I'm with you again. I'm sorry you had to worry, but it wasn't safe for us to contact either of you."

Sam took a deep breath, trying to decide how best to ask his many questions. "Is Cas with Dean right now?"

Gabriel nodded. "Yeah, but if what I've seen from our side is any indication, that's gonna be one hell of an angsty conversation."

"Dean gave up," Sam informed him, unable to keep the sadness out of his tone. "He didn't even want to hear me mention you guys. Where were you? Why couldn't you just let us know you were okay?"

Taking a deep breath, Gabriel nodded, more to himself than Sam, before deciding what to say. "Okay, here goes. You know Heaven was after us." He waited for Sam's nod of acknowledgement before continuing. "The night I left you all in the kitchen, it was because one of the safeguards I'd created longer ago than you can imagine had been tripped. It was only a matter of time before Heaven found us. I called Cas to join me so we could discuss what to do. We decided to spend one last night with you guys and then take you back to the mainland. If you were reinserted into your normal lives, you would be safe from Heaven's attention while Cas and I tried to figure out a way to stay undetected. If we got caught, we wouldn't be able to protect you, so we needed you to be as safe as possible."

Sam felt his eyes go wide with understanding. "That's why you sent us to Dad and Bobby."

"Exactly." Gabriel offered a small smile. "It's no angel protection, but we figured they could help keep you at least semi-safe. Plus, it was only a matter of time before their hunt for you two caused detection problems. It was better to nip it in the bud by dropping you both into their motel room."

"How did they get so close to finding you in the first place?" Sam wondered, puzzled by the idea that infinitely old protections that had been working could suddenly fail.

Gabriel looked embarrassed. "I'd love to blame your father and his hunt, not that it wasn't a little bit his fault, but this one is actually on me and Cas. Angels were created to love. We're not always great at it, but that's what we were originally built to do. Sure, we're warriors and all that, but we love above all, or we try to anyway. All our protections didn't account for Heaven being able to detect love. That's why were so worried about your safety. If Heaven could eventually find us because we'd fallen in love, they'd definitely be able to find those we'd fallen in love with."

Sam gaped openly at Gabriel for a second, realizing that the archangel had just told him directly that he loved him. Sam had been saying it for weeks now, but Gabriel hadn't been physically present any of those times. "I love you too," he blurted, though that hadn't at all been what he intended to say.

Gabriel's whole expression softened, and he reached up to cup Sam's face with his hand, pulling the hunter in for a kiss. It was mostly chaste, but still infinitely better than any kiss before it, because it meant Gabriel was really there, completely safe, and in love with Sam.

"So you're safe now?" Sam asked as soon as Gabriel let him come up for air. "You and Cas are fine?"

Gabriel pulled back slightly so he could ruck up his shirt, revealing a line of Enochian sigils that appeared to be tattooed on his side. "Cas and I got inked up," he said with a grin. "I mean, not at an actual tattoo parlor, but you get the idea. These make us totally invisible. Heaven can't track anything connected to us anymore. Ideally we want to mark you and Dean too, so that no matter what Heaven won't go after you to find us. They shouldn't find you regardless, but call me paranoid. I'd rather be sure."

"And you're sure these work?" Sam leaned forward and traced the sigils with his index finger, curious about the symbols he didn't recognize. 

"That's what the whole vampire rescue was about," Gabriel admitted. "We wanted to get involved in your lives again in a small way and make sure nothing happened. You guys were fine and Heaven didn't make a peep, so we decided it was safe to come back."

With that final note of clarification, Sam felt the weight of the whole situation leaving him, and he relaxed fully for what felt like the first time since the island. "You can mark me," he told Gabriel, the words coming out far more sexual than he'd intended, but the double entendre was probably warranted. He'd missed Gabriel, in every way.

A grin spread across Gabriel's face, almost predatory in nature. "Oh, Sammy, I intend to."

* * *

Dean was enjoying his shower until the hot water abruptly became a frigid avalanche of icicles. He shut off the water with a curse, glaring at the shower head as if it had betrayed him. "Friggin' motels," he muttered. Sam wasn't back from the grocery run yet, so he hadn't bothered to bring a change of clothes into the bathroom with him. Instead, he wrapped a towel around his waist out of habit and strode out into the main room, intend on finding his duffel bag. He took a step towards it, looked up, and came to an immediate halt, his eyes wide.

Castiel.

Castiel was back.

Castiel was in his motel room.

Castiel was  _alive_.

"You dick," Dean breathed, unable to reconcile the pure relief that Castiel was okay with the burning rage at having been abandoned in the first place.

The angel looked sorrowful - no, penitent - and didn't make a move to approach Dean, seeming aware that it would not be appreciated yet. "Words cannot begin to express the sorrow I feel over having been forced to leave you, Dean."

"Forced?" Dean repeated the word in a harsh tone, skepticism dripping from it. "What happened, Cas? What the hell was so goddamn important that you had to leave?" He choked off the part of him that wanted to say that he'd been abandoned. He was  _not_ going to allow his emotions to reign here, not when he'd gotten so good at shoving them down.

Castiel stepped forward, his expression earnest. "Heaven was close to finding us, because we had not taken the proper precautions. Had I never fallen in love with you, it would never have been a problem. I never assumed love would factor into my existence, so that Heaven could track me by my love was not even a consideration. I put you, my brother, and your brother in danger by falling for you, Dean Winchester. Do not believe for one moment that the lengths I went to in order to protect you in any way convey something other than my complete adoration for you."

Dean stared at his angel. No words would come, but his brain was repeating Castiel's words on a loop, focusing primarily on the fact that  _Castiel was in love with him_. "Are you okay?" He finally choked out.

A soft smile appeared on Castiel's face, and he pulled aside his trenchcoat and pulled up his dress shirt, showing Dean the tattooed skin there. "Gabriel and I found a way to protect ourselves from Heaven's tracking methods. Now our love for the two of you no longer poses a threat to either your well being or ours. There are more complicated elements to this whole affair, but that is the most important thing you need to know."

Dean nodded in acknowledgement of that, still unsure how to react. He was uncomfortably aware that he was dressed in only a towel, and he took a deep breath, trying to regain some equilibrium. "Cas, you mind giving me a second to get dressed?" He was proud of how steady the question came out.

Castiel blinked, glancing down at the towel as though noticing it for the first time. "Of course." He vanished soundlessly.

Dean took another deep breath before retrieving jeans and a t-shirt from his bag, throwing them on quickly before grabbing what he hoped was a clean over shirt. "I'm done," he called out, knowing that Castiel could still hear him.

Sure enough, the angel reappeared in the same spot he'd vanished from, though he now wore an expression of hopefulness that was almost painful to look at.

"So, Heaven can't find either of us now?" Dean checked, wanting to be sure he understood.

Castiel hesitated. "The safest way to protect you would be for you to receive my mark. Gabriel is explaining to Sam as we speak. If the two of you are marked, then our protections extend to you, and even if we are not with you, Heaven will not be able to seek you out."

There was a tidal wave of conflicting emotions within Dean's chest. He wasn't used to being so emotional anyway, but the warring instincts of love and anger were making it hard for him to focus. "Cas..." He trailed off, not wanting to hurt the angel, but unsure how else to express the gaping pain in his chest without sounding like a bad songwriter. 

"Yes, Dean?" Castiel asked, his tone sounding almost resigned.

Dean breathed out slowly, closing his eyes briefly before opening them and looking directly at his angel. "I'm going to need time."

There was an open wound in Castiel's eyes that he seemed unable to hide, but he nodded once. "I understand. I will always be here, when you need me." He vanished once again, leaving Dean alone in the room.

A slightly hysterical laugh escaped Dean, and he collapsed onto the nearest surface, which thankfully was a hideously patterned arm chair. "You will, huh?" he muttered at the ceiling. "I guess we'll see."

 


	23. Chapter 23

Sam was sure the hotel room was lovely. It seemed large, and the ceiling was nice. He hadn't had much of a chance to look at the rest of it, since Gabriel had flown them in and promptly thrown the hunter flat onto the bed, straddling him with a wicked grin.

"You have no idea how much I've missed you," Gabriel informed Sam before leaning in to devour the hunter's lips, not pausing to allow Sam time to recover from the onslaught.

When Sam was finally given a moment to breathe, he ground his hips against Gabriel's ass with a sly grin of his own. Through panting breaths, he said, "I think I have some idea."

Not willing to let the human take over his show, Gabriel caught Sam's hands in his own, pinning them on either side of the man's head with just enough force to remind Sam who was capable of dismantling whose atoms. Not that he would, but still. "I intend to have my way with you in every way you can imagine," he stated, waggling his eyebrows in a way that almost counteracted the gravity of his words.

Still a little out of breath, Sam looked pointedly between them and said, "In that case, you're going to need to get rid of all this damn fabric." He wasn't remotely surprised when their clothing vanished immediately. Later he could argue for a little more foreplay, but right now he was too eager to care.

"First," Gabriel said, leaning down and pressing a series of kisses along Sam's collarbone, "I'm going to ride you, Samsquatch. My own personal stallion." He gave an exaggerated wink and wiggled his ass, brushing against Sam's hard cock as a promise.

Sam's eyes went wide. "Seriously?" He managed. "I thought you wouldn't wanted to go all caveman to stake your claim."

"Oh we're doing that next," Gabriel confirmed. "Trust me, I'll be deep inside you when I claim you, Sam." The words rang with sincerity and something that might have sounded threatening if Sam wasn't one hundred percent certain of Gabriel's love. "First though," the archangel continued, "I want your cock inside  _me_. It's been too damn long."

Sam groaned loudly. He had absolutely no intention of arguing. He relaxed as much as he could under the weight of Gabriel's body, spreading out more than he already was and leveling heated gaze at the archangel. "Quit talking and do it then!" He grinned at the archangel, suddenly hit by an overwhelming wave of gratitude that he had this. He'd had his moments of fear that he'd never seen Gabriel again, but here he was, real, alive, and determined to keep Sam forever. That was all Sam wanted at that moment, and he didn't want to wait any longer to be joined with his mate. That's what a claim would mean. Mates. The word sent a flood of warmth through him, and the snarky grin he'd been wearing faded into a fond smile.

"Don't go getting all sentimental on me before we've even gotten to the afterglow," Gabriel warned, but he couldn't help returning Sam's expression. He was so damn lucky Sam had forgiven him so quickly. His hunter had an inordinate amount of hope and faith for someone life had screwed over so badly. Gabriel was going to do his best to make sure Sam never had reason to doubt ever again. Shoving aside the feelings threatening to distract from his desire to take advantage of the hard cock beneath him, Gabriel readied himself with a thought. It might have been more fun to prepare himself, or even to get Sam to do it, but Gabriel was impatient. This was about reconnecting, and taking their sweet time was no advantageous right now.

Sam let out a choked scream when Gabriel lined himself up and sank all the way down without warning, engulfing Sam's cock in tight heat. "Holy--" he breathed, too overwhelmed to even finish the expletive.

"At your service," Gabriel replied, his expression perfectly cheeky. He clenched, eyes intent on Sam's face so he could enjoy the way the hunter's eyes rolled back into his head with the sensation. Not moving his eyes from Sam, Gabriel slowly raised himself up, then dropped back down, groaning as he narrowly missed his prostate. It had been a while - he'd have to adjust his angle apparently. 

"Not going to last long," Sam panted out, doing his best to focus on the archangel on top of him. A light in the room was back lighting Gabriel, giving his golden hair a veritable halo. He was the most beautiful thing Sam had seen in a long time, and he was going to appreciate the view, dammit.

Gabriel tilted slightly as he pushed himself up and down again, this time hitting his prostate dead on with a shout. "I'll take that as a compliment," he grunted, clenching again before lifting up.

Had he been thinking more clearly, Sam might have considered thrusting up to meet Gabriel's movements, but the archangel had made it pretty clear that he was running this show, which Sam was completely okay with. His hands were still clutching the sheets of the bed where Gabriel had been holding them earlier, even though the archangel wasn't holding him in place anymore.

"Come for me, Sammy," Gabriel urged, knowing he was too close to hold out for any longer. He grunted as he came down particularly hard, his hand going to his cock as he rose up again immediately, preparing to use Sam's cock to give him that last little nudge over the edge.

They came together, Sam crying out as Gabriel thrust downwards towards his hips, one quick stroke coating the hunter's chest in his lover's come. Gabriel slid off of Sam's cock after a beat, rolling to the side and looking at Sam's chest appreciatively. "I like you like this," he murmured, pressing a kiss to Sam's side.

"Wet and sticky?" Sam asked, his voice breathy, still trying to calm down.

Gabriel snorted. " _Mine_ ," he growled.

A soft laugh escaped Sam, and he tilted his head to kiss the top of Gabriel's. "Yours," he confirmed.

They laid there together for a moment, just breathing, before Gabriel rose up on his knees and leveled a heated glance at his hunter. "So," he began, "where do you want my mark?"

Sam groaned and through an arm over his eyes. "You can't give me half an hour?" he grunted.

Gabriel snorted. "Don't worry, I'll take care of that part. Just answer the question, kiddo."

Sam shifted his arm so he could look at his archangel. "I don't know; what does it look like?"

Waggling his fingers, Gabriel held up a hand meaningfully. "It may just be a handprint, but it's going to mean the same as if I stamped "Property Of Gabriel" across your ass in every language known to man."

Sam was pretty sure he wasn't supposed to find that hot, but his body apparently didn't, because he felt the heat pool in his belly at the mere idea. "Where do you want it?" He asked, curious.

Looking over the hunter speculatively, Gabriel gave him a sly smile and murmured, "I want to put you on your knees and stake my claim, leave my handprint on your hip so every time I take you like that I can put my hand back in that same place and make you go crazy."

Sam whimpered, nodding before he was even aware of it. "That. There, I mean. Yes."

It didn't matter that the reply wasn't strictly coherent; Gabriel knew exactly what Sam meant. He reached over and ran a finger lightly along Sam's cock, grinning with unbridled amusement at Sam's reaction as he immediately hardened.

"What...?" Sam didn't finish his sentence, not actually sure what to ask.

"I can keep you going all night, Samsquatch," Gabriel promised.

Rather than reply, Sam surged upwards and pulled Gabriel to him, taking the archangel in a kiss of gratitude, love, and commitment. When he pulled away, he looked Gabriel in the eye and winked. "Claim me," he ordered.

Gabriel's gaze heated, and he had Sam flipped over and all fours before the hunter could even consider protesting. "Stay," he growled, his tone leaving no room for argument, not that Sam had any intention of arguing.

Sam made a low noise in his throat, his cock throbbing with the desire to come, as if he hadn't done just that moments before. "Have I mentioned how hot it is when you do that?" He asked, trying to sound more in control than he was.

Gabriel trailed a hand down Sam's spine, causing the larger man to shiver. He ghosted both hands over Sam's ass, just a hint of what was to come. "Oh, trust me, I know," Gabriel said, confidence evident in his voice. "Big, strong hunter. I'm the first one who's ever been able to hold you down." His grin turned filthy when Sam moaned in response. Draping himself over Sam's back, Gabriel paused just a hair's breath from Sam's ear and whispered, "You like knowing I could tear you apart."

Sam's entire body shuddered, and he nodded quickly, pushing back with his hips against where Gabriel had shifted, brushing against the shorter man's cock. The obvious interest he could feel there made Sam abruptly impatient to have the archangel inside him again. "You could," he replied, "but you won't." Gabriel made a noise of amused agreement, which caused Sam to grin. "Now," he continued, twisting his head until he could see Gabriel in his periphery vision. "Quit stalling and  _claim me_."

Hands gripped Sam's hips before he'd even finished his sentence, and Gabriel made a chuckling noise that would have been a cause for concern if Sam didn't know him so well. "Oh I intend to," Gabriel promised. He shifted onto his knees, getting eye level with that delectable human ass he'd been missing for so long, and brought his hands from Sam's hips to his ass cheeks, holding him firmly and spreading him open. Before Sam had a chance to react, Gabriel dove into the hunter's hole with his tongue, thrusting rapidly and making obscene slurping noises.

Gibberish fells from Sam's lips as he desperately tried to find words. "God, Gabe... HOLY-- Oh god, oh god..."

Normally Gabriel's tongue wasn't anywhere near long enough to actually tease Sam's prostate, but the archangel was never one to let body limitations get in the way of teasing his hunter. Relishing the idea of how Sam would react when he was coherent again, Gabriel elongated his tongue with a thought, stretching into Sam and flicking against his prostate relentlessly.

Sam keened, his hands fisting in the sheets in a desperate attempt not to reach down and touch his aching cock. "Not gonna last if you keep doing that," he panted out, the words slurred together in places.

Gabriel retreated from his hunter's ass, his tongue just as normal as ever. "Then I'd better get a move on," he replied, sounding unfairly together compared to his lover. Using his grace to summon lube, he coated his fingers and slid two inside Sam, scissoring right away. The hunter wasn't loose by any means, but Gabriel was skilled with his tongue, and he knew Sam wouldn't be hurt by two fingers. It only took a moment before Sam was begging for a third, so Gabriel obliged him, stretching the hunter quickly and efficiently. 

"Gabe, now!" Sam begged, his voice sounding increasingly desperate.

Never let it be said that Gabriel requires an engraved invitation. He withdrew his fingers, slicking himself up with the remaining lube, lined himself up, and thrust himself balls deep into the hunter with one motion.

Sam let out a noise somewhere between a grunt and a moan, pushing back with his hips impatiently. "Move!" He ordered.

Huffing a laugh at his lover, Gabriel gripped Sam's hips the way he'd promised, and set as brutal a pace as he knew he could without actually risking hurting Sam. His grip tightened, leaving normal marks that would fade in a few days. The hand on Sam's left hip began to pulse with promise. He knew Sam could feel it when he made a low noise somewhere between longing and pain.

"Do it!" Sam begged, meeting Gabriel's pace with each thrust. He knew he was going to feel the archangel for days, and after so long without him, the idea was enticing. He could feel the heat emanating from Gabriel's left hand, and was suddenly overcome with an irrepressible desire to finish the claim.

Gabriel didn't hesitate. He let his grace flow out through that connection into Sam, searing his handprint on the hunter's hip. The sudden shock of pain to Sam's system caused him to clench hard, which tore Gabriel's orgasm from him without his permission. He cried out, keeping his hands firmly pressed to the hunter's skin.

When the searing burn of Gabriel's grace flooded his hip, Sam lost all control and came instantly, a scream on his lips. As the hunter and archangel came down from their respective highs, Sam found himself being pulled tight against Gabriel as they fell to their sides. All the mess and immediately cleaned, and all that remained was the ache in Sam's ass and the throbbing handprint on his hip, which Gabriel's hand still rested over, though now gently. 

"I love you," Sam murmured, snuggling back into Gabriel's hold. The comfort and safety of Gabriel's presence was something he had missed more than he could have ever imagined, and he never wanted to be without it again.

Gabriel pressed a kiss between Sam's shoulder blades, a soft smile on his face. "I love you too," he replied quietly, stroking over his claim.

They lay in silence for a moment, enjoying the afterglow, when Sam twisted towards Gabriel with raised eyebrows to ask, "Did you use your grace to  _make your tongue longer_?!"


	24. Chapter 24

When Sam got back to the motel room, utterly sated and content with the world again, he had absolutely no intention of discussion his reunion with Gabriel unless Dean's reunion with Castiel had gone well, and/or Dean brought it up. Upon entering the room, he found his older brother laying on his back on the bed closest to the door, hurtling a quarter machine bouncy ball at the ceiling, then catching it as it bounced back with unerring accuracy. He was throwing with enough force to dent the ceiling, and Sam actually studied their ceiling for a moment to make sure he wasn't doing just that. Motels weren't known for their stellar architecture.

Dean paused, the bouncy ball gripped between his fingers, and gave Sam an appraising look. With a snort, he returned his attention to the ceiling and threw the ball again. "That didn't take long," he observed with derision. "Did you even try to make him work for it?"

Choosing to attempt diplomacy, Sam moved over to his own bed, sitting down on the edge facing his brother. "If it makes you feel any better, I did smack him."

Snorting again, Dean caught the ball and enclosed it in his fist, turning his head to meet Sam's eyes. "He probably enjoyed that," he said wryly.

Sam shrugged, a slight smile on his face. "He seemed proud of me," was all he offered in response.

Dean rolled his eyes. "Figures. So, you got the whole 'we loved you too much to stay with you speech' I'm guessing?" He turned to look at the ceiling again, but didn't throw the ball.

While Dean's hostility wasn't unexpected, Sam found himself a little at a loss as far as how to handle it. Admittedly, he hadn't expected his brother to just accept Castiel back with open arms, but he didn't know what he could do to help. "Gabe explained," Sam confirmed. "I got the impression they were both terrified that Heaven was going to find us before they could fix the problem. I'm not saying it didn't suck, but they weren't being deliberately cruel, Dean."

"I know that," Dean said, his voice soft, surprising Sam. Turning his head to face Sam again, his brow furrowed. "I  _know_ that," he repeated, more fervently. "So why the hell can't I forgive him already?"

Abruptly, Dean's mood made sense. If it had just been anger towards Castiel, Sam wouldn't have known what to say. Their relationship had always been different from his and Gabriel's, so he wouldn't have known where to start. This wasn't about that though, and Sam felt a little silly for not understanding sooner. Dean wanted to forgive Castiel. That was half the battle won already. 

The loud noise the ball made when it struck the ceiling snapped Sam out of his thoughts, and he watched as his brother caught the ball again. "You remember when we were young, and Pastor Jim taught us about God and the angels?" He asked, waiting until Dean looked at him again.

"Yeah...?" Dean dragged out the word with a questioning inflection, narrowing his eyes at his brother. "I never believed him." He snorted. "Guess he wins that round."

"No, Dean, that's my point," Sam hurried to say, gesturing towards his brother. "I totally believed him. I prayed all the time. Less, as I got older, or less consistently anyway, but I've always prayed. Remember, we talked about that when we first met Gabe and Cas. But you, right, you weren't a prayer. Like, ever."

"I might need you to spell out your point," Dean said dryly, rolling the ball around his palm. "We already established this. You've got faith, I don't."

Sam shook his head, disagreeing. "You don't have  _blind_ faith," he corrected. "I wanted to believe in God and the angels, and I didn't need proof they were real. I mean, obviously I know now that they are, but I didn't for all of my childhood. I believed someone was listening though. You believe in things you see. You believe in things that have been proven. Remember the first time Dad explained werewolves to us?"

Dean nodded slowly, seeming to follow Sam's train of thought. "I didn't believe him," he remembered. "I thought he was making it up. You were too freaked out by the idea to even decide whether or not it was true."

"Then we went on the hunt," Sam continued, "and you sure as hell believed after that, didn't you?"

Dean huffed a laugh and nodded. "Yeah, okay, so your point is I'm a 'needs to see it to believe it' type of guy?"

Sam tilted his head side to side. "Sort of. Look, you don't trust people unless they prove themselves, right? You're like the most loyal person I've ever met in my life, but only to the people who've proved themselves. You didn't like being around Bobby until he caught me before I fell down the stairs, right?"

"How do you even know that?" Dean asked, bewildered. He sat up, propping himself up with his hands behind his back. "You weren't even two when that happened."

"Bobby told me, when I was like nine or ten," Sam admitted. "I was mad at you because you didn't want me to go over to a friend's house. You didn't know them or their family, so you wouldn't let me go. Bobby explained that you didn't trust other people with me, and told me that story. Apparently until that happened you wouldn't let him near me, but after you like gave him your little six year old blessing and it was never a problem."

Dean flushed and looked off to the side. "I remember," he acknowledged. After a moment, he turned back to Sam with a contemplative look on his face. "So you think I can't forgive Cas, what, because he broke my trust?"

"I think you lost your faith in him," Sam corrected. "It hadn't been tested, right? We were on the island the whole time, and everything was fine. We were happy, and there was no reason to doubt that they would stay with us. So, when they left us, it felt like a betrayal. I can forgive Gabe because I know why he left and I know he thought it was the best thing for me. You know I kept praying the whole time he was gone. But for you, it's different. Cas betraying you like that, no matter how noble his intentions, was him proving to you that you shouldn't believe in him. It's like if Bobby had let me fall down the stairs because he was killing a rattlesnake in my bedroom. He would have been protecting me, but you wouldn't have cared because he let me get hurt. Cas left you to save you, but in the process he hurt you."

Dean stared at Sam with something almost like awe. "Damn." He gave his younger brother an appraising look, then huffed. "Why'd you get all the brains, huh?"

Sam rolled his eyes. "I've been studying my big brother for over two decades," he reminded him. "I'd say I've got my doctorate in Dean-ology by now."

With one swift motion, Dean pegged the bouncy ball at Sam's head. "Shut up, that's not a thing."

Sam snatched the ball out of the air and tossed it upwards, catching it as it came down. He grinned at his stunned brother and nodded once. "Dean's propensity for chucking stuff at my head. Learned that one early."

Unable to keep his amusement off his face, Dean finally collapsed backwards onto the bed again, sighing heavily. "Well, at least know I understand why I'm pissed. So how do Cas and I fix it?"

Sam held up his hands. "You I get, but I'm not a couples counselor, dude. You're going to have to talk to him."

Dean groaned. "Awesome," he deadpanned.

"At least you know he loves you," Sam pointed out.

Starring at the ceiling, Dean nodded, more to himself than to Sam. "Yeah," he replied, his voice soft again. "There is that."

* * *

 

Dean managed to hold out until the following morning before he left the motel room, intent on talking to Castiel. Sam clearly knew what he was planning, but didn't say anything when Dean said he was going for a walk, merely wished him luck and returned to his laptop. Dean gave it a minute tops before he called for Gabriel and more reunion sex, but that wasn't what he wanted to be thinking about.

The motel was only a few blocks from a playground, which Dean figured was as good a place as any. He'd have preferred a more private park, but it was a weekday so no kids were there anyway, which made two grown men sitting near a playset a little less weird. Well, he hoped there'd be two. Sitting on a bench, he cleared his throat and said, "Cas?"

A brief fluttering noise in the air announced Castiel's arrival, and the warmth on Dean's left side from the angel's proximity triggered a sense of longing within Dean that he worked hard to stamp down. They needed to talk first, he reminded himself.

"Hello, Dean," Castiel said softly, surveying their surroundings. "Is there meaning behind your chosen venue?"

Dean hadn't really thought past finding something semi-secluded that wasn't within earshot of his brother, and he said as much. "It's quiet, and it's not the motel room where Sam's hanging out. That's about it."

"Sam is with Gabriel," Castiel corrected. "He informed me shortly before I heard your call."

Dean spared a moment to be amused that he'd been right before returning his focus to the matter at hand. "I thought a lot last night," he began, wrestling with the words in his head to try and convey what he wanted to say. Before the island, he'd never had conversations like this with anyone. Not Sam, not his father, not even former girlfriends. The island had opened him up, and as much as he appreciated the deeper relationships that had resulted in, it scared the crap out of him too. If he'd never opened up, then Castiel leaving would never have hurt so badly.

"I imagine you did," Castiel agreed. "How was that?"

Dean laughed. "Frustrating, mostly. Then I talked to Sam." He paused, wondering how to sum up the conversation. He was still a little surprised Sam had been able to explain to him so succinctly what his issue was, but at the same time it made perfect sense. Sam knew him a lot better than anyone else ever had, and knew what the majority of his relationship with Castiel had consisted of too. Of course Sam would understand what Dean's problem was. If only he'd been able to tell Dean how to fix things too, then everything would be a hell of a lot easier.

"Was Sam able to offer you insight?" Castiel asked, seeming hesitant. He had never shown human emotions as naturally as Gabriel, but there was an undeniable undercurrent of hope in his features, and he was looking at Dean with undisguised love in his eyes.

Forcing himself to look away, if only so he could get through what he wanted to say, Dean took a deep breath before trying to put the words together. "So, I couldn't figure out why I was so angry, why I couldn't just up and forgive you like that." He snapped his fingers to accentuate the point. "I mean, Sam slapped Gabriel and then promptly forgave him. It was so _easy_ for him, and it almost pissed me off, but I can't begrudge him happiness just because I couldn't figure my crap out, right?" The question was rhetorical, and thankfully Castiel did not attempt to answer. "So we talked about it, and Sam managed to pin down exactly what my deal was. I shouldn't be surprised. Freaking giant genius knows me better than anyone else." Dean took another deep breath, fiddling with a loose thread in his jeans. "He pointed out that he and I have always been different in how we trust people. Or, no, have faith in people. I guess there's a difference. Whatever, doesn't matter. Sam believes the best of people, right? He's got this instinctive nature in him that wants to think everyone's trustworthy and stuff. Plus he was the one who believed in angels when we were kids, and still did up until we actually got proof." Dean paused, gesturing to Castiel as he spoke.

"You believe in what you see," Castiel continued for him, sounding both certain of his words and contemplative of their implications. "You have faith in those that prove themselves to you."

Dean pointed at him and nodded. "Yeah, which is totally true, but I wasn't thinking like that until Sam said it. On the island, I had no reason to think that I couldn't, I dunno, have _faith_ in you." Dean made a face, the expression sounding more emotional than he wanted, no matter how accurate it was. "Then, you abandoned me. I know, I  _know_ that you did it to protect me, and you came back as soon as it was safe, but I still feel like I..." Dean trailed off again, afraid of sounding cruel with the admission.

"You lost faith in me because I betrayed you and your trust," Castiel concluded for him, doing an admirable job of keeping the pain of the admission from his voice. "I understand, Dean."

"I know you do," Dean growled. "That's what makes it worse. I mean, yeah, you should have found a way to explain instead of dumping me, but I understand why you didn't. I _understand_ , but I'm still pissed, and that's not fair to you."

"I am willing to earn your faith back, Dean," Castiel informed him, sounding earnest in the declaration.

Dean stared at him for a second, the phrasing triggering what felt like an epiphany. Trust, that was earned. Did he trust that Castiel wasn't going to hurt him again? Maybe not entirely, but that would come. Did he have faith in Castiel though? Did he have faith in the love and reasoning that had sent the angel away in the first place? Hell yes he did. He wouldn't be fighting so hard to restore this if he didn't.

"Dean?" Castiel asked, his brow furrowing as he looked at the hunter, who was staring into space.

Blinking at the angel for a second, Dean made a split second decision. He reached for Castiel and pulled him in for a kiss. Not giving the angel time to recover, he kissed with all the frustration and pent up anger that he'd been holding onto since leaving the island, channeling that emotion into something forceful enough to bring them back together. Castiel responding with a matching intensity with hardly an instant's delay, opening up under Dean's touch and returning the bruising grip the hunter had on him with his own hand at the back of Dean's neck.

When they finally broke apart, Castiel gave Dean an appraising look. "I am not complaining," he assured the hunter, "but what brought this on?" He stroked at the hairs on the very back of Dean's neck, sending chills down the hunter's spine that resulted in a shudder and a heated look from the taller man.

"We can work on the trust thing," Dean informed him, his tone matter-of-fact. "You don't earn faith though, Cas, not like that. You love me, and I already have faith in that. I'm still mad, but I love you too much to let it interfere right now. You're not planning on leaving me. I do have faith in you. I just didn't realize it at first. I don't have any plans on letting you go anywhere without me for pretty much forever, so I figure we've got time for you to make it up to me and for me to get over my anger issues."

"Are you certain?" Castiel asked, the hope in his expression no longer subtle.

Dean leaned forward and kissed him again, reveling in how  _right_ it felt. The anger and trust issues he'd been perseverating over were still there, but they were so small in comparison to the reality of having Castiel actually with him again that he wondered at how he'd ever let them rule his head. "Have faith in me, Cas," he answered with a smile.

A bright smile lit up Castiel's normally stoic features. "I always have."


	25. Chapter 25

Aside from a few moments spent together when they were able to snatch the time, Dean didn't end up seeing much of Castiel for the next week. Sam wasn't really seeing Gabriel either, a byproduct of catching a nearby case. It was only a ghost, so not quite dangerous enough to insist on angelic company, but Dean did consider it once or twice. He wasn't sure he was ready to have Castiel around 24/7 again, but he felt like he should be, so the topic came up for regular debate within his own head.

When the brothers returned for the graveyard, bones burned and bodies sweaty, Dean begrudgingly allowed Sam the first shower. Normally he'd have insisted on the principle of being the oldest, but Sam had done a headlong sprint through a muddy creek to distract the spirit, so Dean figured he deserved it. In the meantime, he snacked on a candy bar and shoved random crap into his duffel, prepared to leave the following morning.

Hearing the bathroom door open, Dean glanced up to see Sam reenter the room, a towel slung around his waist. He moved towards his own duffel, having forgotten to grab a change of clothes in his rush to wash the mud off. When Sam turned at just the right angle, Dean caught sight of the bright red raised scar on his hip.

"What the hell is that?" Dean demanded, pointing at the mark. He couldn't quite see the whole thing, only a few lines above the edge of the towel, but he knew Sam's scars, and that wasn't one of them.

Surprisingly, to Dean at least, Sam flushed bright pink and froze. "Um. Yeah, I guess I didn't tell you about that."

"About what?" Dean prompted, allowing the authority that came with being the big brother seep into his voice, just to see the embarrassment and chagrin deepen in Sam's face. Given Sam's reaction, Dean was pretty sure he didn't need to be genuinely worried, but screwing with his brother was sort of required. Also, Dean definitely wanted to know where the hell the scar had come from.

Sighing, Sam shifted the towel further down his leg, doing his best to preserve some level of modesty. With the towel out of the way, the very obvious shape of a fiercely possessive handprint was plain as day.

"Gabriel  _branded_ you?" Dean asked, a little confused, a little horrified, and more than a little fascinated.

Sam exchanged the towel for a pair of boxers, rolling his eyes at his brother's reaction. "No," he defended. "Well, sort of," he amended a second later. "Didn't Cas explain the marking thing? It's like a way to ensure our protection is bound up in the protection they made for themselves, so Heaven can't find us or them either way."

Now that Sam mentioned it, Dean did remember Castiel saying something about his mark, but he hadn't taken it quite so literally. He continued staring at his brother's hip, mesmerized by the handprint even though he couldn't see it anymore. The idea was unbelievably alluring, especially now that he knew the context.

The look in Sam's eye indicated that he probably had a good idea what his brother was thinking, but he thankfully didn't mention it. "Shower's all yours, dude," he reminded Dean, a little amused at the complete distraction that had come over his brother.

Gathering his change of clothes without giving it much thought, Dean slipped into the bathroom and turned the water on, the image of a handprint imprinted on his flesh at the forefront of his mind. All of the other angst he'd been wrestling with regarding this whole situation seemed to pale in comparison to how badly he wanted Castiel's mark. Decided, Dean stripped quickly and stepped into the shower. As soon as possible, he was going to make this whole deal permanent with Castiel. 

* * *

 

The next morning at breakfast, Gabriel and Castiel actually joined Sam and Dean at the local diner. It was the first time the four of them had been together since the angels' return, but in his prayer, Sam had insisted that Gabriel come with Castiel. If they kept walking on eggshells, nothing would ever get fixed. Seeing Dean's eyes light up when Castiel arrived only served to reassure Sam that he was reading his brother correctly.

They fit into the booth as couples, Sam and Gabriel on one side, and Dean and Castiel on the other, facing the door. Two heaping stacks of pancakes sat before Dean and Gabriel, Castiel hadn't order anything, and Sam had a plate with eggs, sausage, and a cup of fruit.

"It ain't Gabe's cooking, but you can still eat it, Cas," Dean pointed out before shoving a mouthful of pancakes in his mouth.

"It is unnecessary," Castiel insisted, giving the pancakes a highly skeptical look.

Gabriel just shrugged, having already managed to somehow inhale half of his pancakes. "Don't bother, Dean-o. Cas hasn't eaten anything since we left the island anyway."

That caused a look of interest from both humans at the table, but Castiel merely inclined his head, seeming to think it wasn't that significant. "Without the two of you, I saw no purpose in the activity."

"And now that you're back with us, what's stopping you?" Dean challenged, holding out a forkful of pancakes to the angel.

Castiel looked as if he might argue, then he actually paused to consider the question. After a moment's hesitation, he leaned forward and ate the pancakes off of Dean's fork, chewing and then swallowing with a curious noise. "It is true," he concluded. At a questioning look from Dean, he added, "Gabriel makes better food."

The other three at the table all laughed, conceding the point. The only reason they were at the diner was out of habit. If Sam had his way, they'd already be back on Gabriel food full time, but the angels still weren't hanging around regularly. Hopefully they could fix that soon.

It only took a few minutes to polish off his pancakes, which Dean did with a satisfied burp. "So, nothing on the agenda today, right?" He asked Sam. Their ghost was dealt with, so he was hoping they didn't have another case already.

"You're free and clear, man," Sam informed him, already guessing where this was going.

Turning to Castiel, Dean offered the angel a smile and asked, "Cas, can we get out of here?"

The angel must have seen something in Dean's expression, because rather than asking where or why, he merely grasped Dean's shoulder, the two of them vanishing immediately.

Gabriel snorted loudly, a few pieces of pancake stabbed on the end of his fork. "Somebody's getting laid!" He crowed.

Sam would have choked on a piece of cantaloupe, but thankfully dating an archangel makes things like that relatively impossible.

* * *

 

Dean stumbled a little upon arrival, and it took him a moment to get his bearings. When he did, his head snapped around to face Castiel with an awed expression. "Is this your room?" He asked, surprised. Without waiting for an answer, he moved over to the windows, throwing them open and getting a face full of air that spoke of jungle and sea all at once. "We're home!" He declared, realizing a beat later that he had genuinely come to feel as if the island was a home. He and Sam may have grown up in the Impala, which would really always be home in its own way, but the island was another matter entirely.

"Gabriel and I secured it anew," Castiel explained. "We were unsure if you and Sam would like the ability to return here, so we planned ahead in case you did."

"I'm glad you did," Dean said honestly. "This is as much our space as it gets." He took a few more seconds to appreciate just being back in this place before he turned and strode back to stand in front of Castiel, intent on getting out what he wanted before he lost his nerve. "I want your mark," he declared.

Castiel blinked at him in shock before a nearly feral expression came over his face. "Dean," he said slowly, "are you certain?"

"I'm as sure as I can possibly get, Cas," Dean replied, his tone wry. "I saw Sam's mark last night, and I realized that there's nothing I want more than for you to claim me like that. This," he gestured between them, "is forever, starting now. You don't get to leave me behind, I don't get to leave you. We're stuck together." It was the best way he could think to explain how desperately he wanted to reforge what had been broken when they left the island. In that way, Castiel's decision to bring him back to the island was the perfect setting.

"Forever," Castiel repeated, his irises nearly engulfed by his lust blown eyes. He and Dean had spent time with each other since reconciling as much as they had, but it had not been as intimate as before leaving the island. The mere prospect of having Dean like that again, let alone marking him, was more than Castiel had dared to hope for when he'd returned for his hunter. "What is it you want, Dean?" He asked, his tone low and full of promise.

"I want you inside of me," Dean said immediately, not shying away from the challenge in Castiel's words. "I want to be in your bed, in this stupidly big mansion, on this island that's  _ours_ , with you claiming me, and then I want you to put your mark on me."

"Where?" Castiel prompted, his eyes already roaming Dean's body in search of the perfect spot.

Dean shook his head. "You decide." More than anything, he needed this to prove both to himself and Castiel that their relationship was going to emerge stronger and permanent, both in terms of their physical dynamic and the trust and faith they had in each other. He didn't give a damn where the mark was, so long as Castiel was putting it on him. Giving Castiel the choice, well, that was just the best way he could think of to explain what he wanted without having to say it.

Seeming to decide the time for words was over, Castiel moved forward and picked Dean up without any effort, his hands reaching down to cup the hunter's ass for support even as Dean's legs encircled the angel's waist. He strode over to the bed, tossing the hunter into the center and eyeing him appreciatively. "I think I could see you stretched out like that, waiting for me, every day for an eternity and never grow tired of it," Castiel mused, his eyes raking over Dean, still fully clothed, with appreciation. Dean's face flushed at the comment, a fact Castiel took great pride in. He debated momentarily using his grace to banish both of their clothes, but dismissed the idea. This was a reunion, a re-commitment, and they both needed the intimacy of the moment.

Dean arranged himself as helpfully as possible as his angel worked to divest him of his clothing. His jacket went first, followed by his shirt, boots, and socks. Dean hadn't bothered with boxers on the way out of the motel room that morning, so the jeans were abruptly the only thing between his hard cock and Castiel's wandering hands. That realization made Dean unbelievably impatient to have the denim as far away from his body as possible, but Castiel was still fully clothed, including the trenchcoat, which was a little distracting in its own way.

"You planning on getting undressed?" Dean asked pointedly, sounding just a little breathless in spite of himself.

Castiel looked surprised, as if his own state of dress had not yet occurred to him. He'd been too focused on the hunter he was all but straddling to remember his own clothing. Rather than respond, he stripped out of the trenchcoat and suit coat with a fluid motion, then pulled the dress shirt over his head. With a few more motions, including a fight with his shoes, he was in essentially the same position as Dean. Pants, and nothing else.

Taking advantage of Castiel's position directly above him, Dean ground his still denim entrapped cock up against the angel's ass, giving Castiel an unapologetic grin as he did so. "Pants are still clothing, Cas," he snarked.

A mischievous smile was Dean's only warning. Castiel tore the jeans off of the hunter's body, lifting Dean up and then gripping him tightly and pulling him into the angel's lap. Had Castiel not had superhuman strength, the maneuver would never have been possible without interference from Dean. As things actually stood, Dean found himself naked and wrapped in Castiel's arms with his back to the angel before he could properly react.

"You're still wearing pants," Dean reminded him, unable to come up with any other reaction.

Castiel snorted softly and the dress slacks vanished, resulting in skin to skin contact that left no room for doubt as to how the angel was feeling about the situation. "I would remove them the normal way," he commented, "but I find myself unwilling to let go of you."

"No arguments from me," Dean agreed readily. He wiggled his ass a little, taking advantage of his new position in Castiel's lap.

The angel laughed. "Impatient, are we?"

"it has been awhile," Dean reminded him, no animosity in his tone. This was their new start, and he was more than ready to get on with it.

Castiel apparently agreed, because a beat later there were slick fingers nudging against Dean's entrance. The hunter relaxed as much as possible, trying to visualize what Castiel was doing. Their position wasn't great for opening him up, but that was hardly a challenge to the angel, and Dean might have fingered himself in the shower the night before thinking about getting Castiel's mark. In any case, Castiel certainly didn't seem to be having any problems. He worked silently with a single finger until he was certain Dean could take a second. The hunter was leaning into Castiel's touch, making a noise that the angel might have called a purr if he didn't have some sense of self protection. 

"More, Cas," Dean urged, letting his legs fall a little more open as Castiel held him firmly in place.

Not questioning whether or not he meant it, Castiel gave his two fingers a final scissor before carefully introducing a third. Dean let out a moan at the stretch, pushing back against Castiel's hand.

"Nearly ready," Castiel murmured, sounding satisfied. The gentle quiet that had come over the two of them in that moment reflected the peace in this new phase of their relationship, something Castiel didn't think he would ever stop being grateful for.

"Now, Cas, please," Dean begged, turning his head as much as he was able to brush his lips against Castiel's shoulder. "I want you inside me, claiming me."

"Anytime you ask, I will be willing," Castiel promised. He withdrew his fingers, cleaning them with a thought and lining himself up, lifting Dean's body effortlessly to bring him down, impaling the hunter on Castiel's cock slowly. The manhandling and subsequent penetration drew a breathless moan from Dean, who reached for the closest hand of Castiel's that he could reach for the additional point of contact.

With his cock firmly seated inside Dean, Castiel adjusted his position, wrapping his arms around the hunter securely, with one hand covering each of Dean's shoulders, gripping firmly. There was a safety and a security in the position, something that warmed Dean from the inside, knowing that this was Castiel's way of saying he was never letting Dean go again, that he was safe in the angel's arms. Sensing that acceptance from Dean, Castiel used his grip as leverage, thrusting into Dean with a force and intensity that would not have been possible if he were merely human.

Dean's head fell back against his angel as he relaxed himself fully into Castiel's firm grasp, reveling in the feeling of being lifted and thrust into without what seemed like any effort at all. He was about to make a comment to that effect when Castiel shifted his hold on Dean just slightly, bring the hunter down at an angle that resulted in the angel's cock rubbing against Dean's prostate dead on. Any commentary Dean had been about to offer was lost in the choked scream that came out instead. "Holy--" he started to say, the rest of the sentence lost as he gasped, his cock dribbling precum everywhere. He couldn't even remember the last time he'd been so turned on, but there was a decent chance Castiel had been involved that time as well.

"Are you ready, Dean?" Castiel asked, his voice both grave and hopeful.

It took a moment for Dean to catch up enough to realize was the question was. "Yes!" He exclaimed, a rush of excitement flooding him. "Do it, Cas, mark me!"

Speeding up his motions, Castiel allowed his grace to flow freely into his right hand, which was gripped firmly around Dean's left shoulder. As he felt himself nearly orgasm, he brought Dean down forcefully, striking the hunter's prostate once more and allowing his grace to form the mark at the same time, the searing burn of his grace causing Dean to cry out, though the sound was not one of pain. Castiel looked down, realizing that at the moment he'd allowed his grace free, Dean had come, without even touching his cock. The thought caused Castiel to tighten his hand over the fresh mark, relishing the noises Dean made as he did so. A final thrust brought Castiel to climax as well, a shout escaping the angel's lips as he did so. They both drifted for a moment, their connection the only thing keeping them tethered.

"That was awesome," Dean finally said, the words more of a murmur than a declaration.

Castiel made an amused noise, shifting them onto their side so he could slide out of Dean and get better leverage to look at his mark. "As much as I love the fact that this will keep you protected," he mused, tracing the outline of his hand with a single finger, "I find myself more pleased with knowing you are mine."

Smiling, Dean twisted so he could see Castiel, tugging the angel down into a kiss. "Always," he said firmly, leaving no room for argument. "You gripped me tight, Cas, so you better never let go."

"All the hordes of Hell could never drag me away," Castiel promised, the intensity of a solemn vow behind the words. 


	26. Chapter 26

"Guys, if you don't stop pacing we're going to tie you to the beds," Gabriel announced, giving both Sam and Dean an exasperated look. He was lounging in the one armchair the motel room had, while Castiel was standing in the middle of the room, looking reasonably comfortable watching them all.

Sam and Dean, by contrast, were incapable of standing or sitting still. They weren't actually pacing, but they were fidgeting, and Dean was definitely moving around a lot more than normal. Sam would move a little, then stop, then move a little again in random increments.

Dean was the one to glare at Gabriel and the threat, crossing his arms and raising an eyebrow at the archangel. "Not without a fight you won't," he grumbled.

Gabriel rolled his eyes. "Please, we all know you'd happily let Cas tie you to the bed." He grinned when everyone in the room went a little pink, and made a face of mock contrition at the scolding look Sam gave him in response.

"Let us just be nervous, okay?" Sam petitioned. "There are so many ways this could all go wrong." After several weeks of easy hunts, traveling around the country, and a few day trips back to the island, they'd finally managed to get their father to agree to meet up with them. Sam had been the one to suggest John meeting the angels, but Dean had been hard to convince. If they didn't tell him now though, eventually he would find out by himself, which would be worse. Plus, it's not like they had to tell him the angels were actual angels. 

"I do not understand the need for so much secrecy," Castiel interjected. "It is hardly as if your father will be able to harm either of us."

"Doesn't mean he won't try," Dean replied with a grimace. "Don't underestimate him either. If he thinks we're in danger, he'll move mountains to figure out what can kill an angel."

"It'll be fine," Gabriel dismissed. "You guys went to absurd lengths to create backstories for both of us. As far as your dad is concerned, we're just his sons' new boyfriends."

Both Sam and Dean winced at that, which caused a raised eyebrow of interest from Gabriel.

"So, Daddy doesn't know you boys swing both ways?" Gabriel grinned at them, waggling his eyebrows.

"Until you two, we never had," Sam clarified. "It's never been an issue before, so we're not...we just don't know how he's going to take it."

The majority of the preparation for meeting John had centered around ensuring the angels came across as human as possible. That had required inventing surnames for them, since as angels they didn't have any. It had been Sam's idea to just borrow names from the men Gabriel had modeled the vessels after. Castiel didn't know the name of the man his vessel was modeled after, since Gabriel had been the one to sift through all the generational possibilities.

"Novak," Gabriel had supplied when asked. His own vessel, however, was modeled after a man with a complicated name that pre-dated most modern languages. Rather than fight with the name until he could beat into something that resembled a modern surname, Sam just suggested that they both go by Novak. They were brothers, after all, so it made more sense anyway.

The biggest blessing of this entire situation was the fact that Bobby was going to be with John when he showed up. John had been mostly alone since they'd last seen him, but he's caved and agreed to back up on his last hunt. Not even the great John Winchester should be hunting more than two wendigos alone. Bobby had still been with him when the boys had called, and Sam and Dean wouldn't be surprised if Bobby was half the reason John had agreed to meet them in the first place. Bobby was better than just about anyone else at getting John to see sense.

Engine noise from the parking lot caused Dean's head to snap up. "Was that the truck? That sounded like the truck."

Castiel moved towards where Dean had frozen and lay his hand gently atop the spot on the hunter's shoulder where his mark was. "Dean, calm down. Nobody is going to get hurt, and we will not do anything to give your father reason to be concerned." At this comment, Castiel leveled a very pointed stare at Gabriel, who rolled his eyes and nodded.

"Cross my heart, Dean-o. I'll be on my best behavior." Gabriel only glanced at Dean as he spoke, making eye contact with Sam as he delivered the promise.

Strangely enough, that did make Dean relax, and he took a couple deep breaths, exchanging looks of trepidation with his brother. "All right, let's get this over with."

Right on cue, a hard knock came from the door. Sam was closest, so he moved to answer it, opening it to reveal Bobby and John, both looking vaguely wary. "Hey, Dad, Bobby. C'mon in. It's good to see you both."

"Good to see you too, boy," Bobby affirmed gruffly, patting Sam's shoulder as he passed into the room. He stopped with surprise as he realized there were two more men in the room than he was expecting.

"We're here," John announced unnecessarily. "What was it you thought we needed to know?" He looked into the room to where Bobby had just come to a stop and visibly startled, his eyes snapping back and forth between the two unknowns in the room.

"It's nice to see you two, Dad," Dean commented dryly. "We wanted you to meet our new partners. We figured it was better for you to hear it from us. The hunter network can be awful gossips, after all."

"Good to meet you," Gabriel interjected, sticking his hand out to John, who was closer to him. "Gabriel Novak. That's my brother Castiel."

John stared at Gabriel's hand with suspicion for just a bit too long before slowly shaking it. "Who are you two, exactly?"

"They saved our lives and we trust them implicitly," Sam declared before either angel could comment. "That's all you need to know, Dad."

Bobby was clearly seeing two and two and coming up with four, if the looks he was giving them all were any indication. He glanced towards John out of the corner of his eye and elected not to say anything for the time being. He had a feeling the boys would be more willing to share information without their supernatural hating father in earshot. Turning to Castiel, Bobby stuck his hand out to shake the angel's hand, though it took the angel a moment to catch on. "It's good to meet you," Bobby confirmed, since John hadn't returned the sentiment. "Anyone who can keep these two away from death's door is all right in my book."

Sam and Dean both looked thoroughly relieved for a split second, some of the tension bleeding from them at Bobby's ease and acceptance. Sam could tell Bobby had questions, and he was beyond grateful that the older man was choosing to bite his tongue for now.

"How'd you meet?" John asked, not intending to be deterred. His eyes kept moving from Castiel, who wasn't doing anything, to Gabriel, who had a mischievous glint in his eye but was still behaving himself so far.

"On a hunt," Dean answered, hoping sticking as close to the truth as possible would make this whole scenario easier.

"So, what, they helped with a hunt and you both decided to just shack up with complete strangers?" John asked, the disbelief in his tone plain as day.

Gabriel rolled his eyes and sighed, earned John's gaze once more. "Give your kids some credit," he chastised the hunter. "We had to earn their trust, and they're damn fine hunters even without our help."

Sam and Dean both looked appreciative at the compliment, Bobby looked amused, and John looked even more irritated.

"I want more information," the Winchester patriarch demanded, turning to Dean, who could usually be most relied upon in that capacity. "Why are you all being so cagey about this? What aren't you telling me?"

"Dad," Sam snapped, drawing his father's attention away from Dean. "We're full grown adults who can make our decisions. We want Gabe and Cas with us, because we trust them, and they've earned that." He paused, shooting Gabriel a fond look before returning his attention to his father. "We're tell you that we have partners now as a courtesy, not because we need your permission."

John bristled, but didn't immediately argue, giving them all a shrewd look. "So what about the fact that you're all sleeping together?" He griped. "I can't be concerned as a father about your poor decision making there?"

Gabriel started laughing, drawing an irritated glare from John. "All sleeping together," he repeated, his eyes watering as he managed to get the words out through his laughter. "Man, I don't know what your sex life is like, but four people in a bed at the same time is exhausting. I'll take the overgrown moose à la carte any day!"

Sam snorted and covered his face with his hands briefly, too embarrassed to see his father's reaction right away. When he did look, John looked torn between flushing with embarrassment of his own and rage at what he likely felt was an insult.

Dean moved forward with some trepidation, giving their father a steady look. "Dad," he said, waiting until John turned to look at him. "They're important to us, okay? So are you, and Bobby, which is why we're telling you now. Can you be cool with that, or are you going to keep making a big deal about this?"

John gave Dean a sharp look, not used to his eldest addressing him like that. "This isn't over," he stated. After a pause, he added, "I'm going to go get a room. I have a day or two, so we're going to stay in this area until I'm convinced you two haven't gotten yourself into trouble." Seeing the wary looks on his sons' faces, he sighed and crossed over to be closer to Sam, giving his youngest a speculative look. "It's the fact that you've given strangers such complete access to your lives," he said, giving Sam a warning look when it looked like his son was about to contradict him. "It is  _not_ ," he emphasized, "the fact that you're all sharing the same equipment. I don't give a damn who you've got in bed with you as long as it isn't a creature of some kind."

Sam and Dean's faces went through a complicated series of emotions, including both relief that their father apparently didn't care about what gender they were sleeping with, and fear of how he might react if he learned the angels were in fact angels.

"All right, that's enough for now. John, go get a room. I'm going to catch up with the boys for a minute," Bobby stated, leaving no room for argument. He waited until John had reluctantly left the room before turning to face the four remaining occupants with a raised eyebrow. "So. Your little missing in action stunt."

"Can't put anything past you," Dean grumbled, looking a little impressed and a little annoyed simultaneously.

"So you two aren't human," Bobby concluded, looking between Gabriel and Castiel.

"That depends," Gabriel said, giving Bobby a shrewd look. "You going to freak out?"

"Only if you hurt my boys," Bobby replied, raising his eyebrow at the archangel in a clear challenge.

Satisfied, Gabriel grinned at the hunter and stuck his hand out as if they were meeting for the first time. "Nice to meet you, I'm Gabriel, the archangel. That's my brother Castiel, angel of Thursday. We're a little too interested in humanity for Heaven's tastes, so we're more or less in hiding. We took care of these two after they nearly got themselves drowned, then fell in love because we're hopeless like that. Unfortunately, love is something Heaven can track, so we sent them back to you and Daddy Dearest while we made precautions so Heaven couldn't find us or them. Now everyone's protected, so we're back with them, making up for lost time. I think that about covers it."

Bobby eyed Gabriel with some level of appreciation for a moment before he commented, "I won't say anything to John as long as you two," he pointed to Sam and Dean, "bring your angelic boyfriends 'round to my place to help build up my lore library from time to time."

"Deal," Sam confirmed, looking unbelievably happy. "Thanks, Bobby. That means a lot."

Bobby shrugged. "I figure any creature willing to send the Impala to me for protection just to make Dean happy can't be all that worrisome," he said wryly, giving the two angels a pointed look. "Besides, you two ain't stupid. I'll work at talking some sense into your boneheaded father. He's just worried."

"We know," Dean confirmed. "We figured we'd have to deal with some of that. Gabe and Cas aren't going anywhere though, so we're going to have to make this work."

"We will," Bobby assured him. "Maybe not today, but it's obvious that you four are a package deal now. Your dad will get over it."

* * *

John did not 'get over it,' at least not in the three days they spent in the same motel. He stopped glaring at Gabriel and Castiel, but that was about it. After that, John took off for a hunt and Bobby went home. Sam and Dean had caught wind of a possible werewolf, so it was abruptly business as usual for everyone.

The nice thing about having the angels around when they were hunting was that they always had backup when they needed it. More than that though, after a long day or after finishing a hunt, they had the freedom to disappear off to the island for as long as they wanted. It was a freedom and a melding of the best of both worlds that neither Sam nor Dean had ever dreamed they could have.

Once every couple of months they would inexplicably cross paths with John, who seemed to be tracking them. He still looked suspiciously at Gabriel and Castiel, but he wasn't outright hostile at least. In fact, at Sam's request, Gabriel fashioned a protective charm for John that would prevent Heaven from utilizing him to find them, although the possibility was slim at best. Still, it made both Winchesters feel better knowing John was protected. Gabriel offered the same to Bobby next time they saw him, who was genuinely fascinated by the offer. John's was hidden in the truck, so it was unlikely he'd ever find it.

Bobby absolutely loved having the ability to call Gabriel and Castiel for information, and how willing they were to answer his questions. He was fairly subtle about his appreciation, but Sam and Dean couldn't remember ever seeing him so excited about something.

"When you boys do romance, you sure don't screw around," Bobby had declared at one point before disappearing into his study with Castiel to interrogate the angel some more.

Maybe the John element wasn't perfect, but with Bobby's acceptance and how well everything was going, Sam and Dean both had concluded it was better than they could ever have hoped for.

One evening several months later, after everyone had a long shower to rid themselves of leftover ectoplasm, Sam made his way into Dean's room as carefully as possible. They were on the island again, which was pretty normal these days, and they had also bumped up against an anniversary almost without realizing. Although really, as if Sam wouldn't recognize a date.

"Dude, I'm getting dressed," Dean protested, though he already had his pants on, so it hardly mattered.

Sam rolled his eyes. "Dean, do you know what day it is? Or, almost is?"

Dean scrunched up his face. "Wednesday? No, wait, Friday. Right?" He looked as if he might start counting.

"Not what I meant," Sam interrupted his train of thought. "It's almost midnight, which means it's almost one year since we first washed up on the shore.

Dean blinked and turned to face him, surprised. "You're right! Whoa, that went by a hell of a lot faster than I expected. What do you want to do to celebrate?"

Sam grinned. "Make them work for it," he replied, a twinkle in his eye.

After growing up in each other's pockets their entire lives, there was little nuance either brother could attempt that the other one wouldn't pick up on. Dean responded with a broad smile, throwing a t-shirt on and looking expectant. "Now?" He asked.

Sam glanced at his watch. Holding up his other hand, he slowly ticked down five fingers and nodded. "It's midnight. Now."

With as much stealth as they could muster, the brothers made their way out of the mansion and into the jungle. Surprised to have made it out of the mansion, they exchanged a grin and took off for the beach as fast as they could go. Foliage whipped around them as the smell of the sea grew stronger.

Skidding to a stop in the sand, Dean threw up his hands as Sam came to a stop beside him. "C'mon!" He protested. "How soon did you realize?" He glared petulantly at the two angels standing sentry on the beach.

"As soon as you started moving," Gabriel replied with a scoff. "It's our anniversary, of course you two were going to make a run for the beach." He moved over to where Sam was looking at him fondly and pulled the larger man down into a kiss.

Dean locked eyes with Castiel, who looked unbelievably pleased with himself. "Happy day I didn't drown and washed up on the island," Dean offered, his lips twitching into a smile. He walked forward until he was standing right in front of the angel, winking as Castiel locked eye with him.

Moving his hands to rest on Dean's shoulders, Castiel murmured, "I have never been more grateful for a near death experience." With a soft smile, he pulled his hunter in closer, marking their anniversary with a kiss.

From behind them, Gabriel, who was now suspended in the air with his legs wrapped around Sam's waist, called out, "Happy anniversary to everybody! So, should we all have sex on the beach to celebrate?"

Raising an eyebrow at the suggestion, Sam strode towards the cold ocean water with a look of mischief that rivaled even Gabriel's and unceremoniously dumped the archangel into the water. When the archangel's head popped out with an indignant look, Sam shook his head and said, "Sand is a bitch to get rid of. No beach sex."

Gabriel glanced around at the water and shrugged. "So, skinny dipping. I can work with that."

Sam pursed his lips. "Not in the ocean," he contradicted. "You could maybe convince me to give the pool a go."

"And that's our cue," Dean interrupted. "Cas, I think you and I have some celebrating to do." He grinned as the angel's eyes went dark, and they promptly vanished.

Sam turned to Gabriel, who was already dry and out of the water, giving his hunter a speculative look. "So, skinny dipping in the pool, huh?"

"Only if you can catch me," Sam challenged, bursting into a run down the beach.

Gabriel spared a second to thank his Father for everything that had led to the island and what it had allowed in their lives. "Amen," he concluded, then took off down the beach, intent on catching Sam. They had a date with the pool!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who read The Dangerous Game! I really appreciate all of you, and your encouragement is what allowed me to get this whole thing finished! You can find me on Tumblr as [FictionalNutter](fictionalnutter.tumblr.com). I do take prompts, so if you want to see me add something to turn this into a 'verse or something else entirely, let me know!


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